
Only a small percentage of users buys stuff through Alexa, report claims - pwaai
https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2018/08/only-a-small-percentage-of-users-buy-stuff-through-alexa-report-claims/
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WheelsAtLarge
People aren't really understanding Amazon's strategy. Amazon is playing the
long game. Right now they are getting their foothold into people's homes with
echo and Alexa. In time they will refine the process. I see a future where
they have a visual part to ordering-- similar to an echo show.

As it stands now, digital goods are more practical to use with the echo.
Example, I never used prime music until I got my echo. My Audible books were
all played on my phone-- now I listen to them on my echo. It definitely gives
me one more reason to stay with prime and buy more audiobooks.

Google's Android didn't bring much sales to Google early on. Now it brings in
billions. It's too early to judge the echo's impact on Amazon's sales.

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byoung2
For me, voice doesn't work well for shopping. I love Alexa/Echo and I have a
dozen devices mainly for home automation and general questions (weather,
lookup). But for shopping, I want to find the best product and look up the
cheapest price before buying. I'm afraid of what might happen if I said "Alexa
buy a 128GB microsd card" because they range from $8 to $50 and I don't know
which one Amazon would pick. The items mentioned in the article as common
voice repeat purchases I already have set up as subscriptions (e.g. pool
chemicals, shampoo).

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makecheck
There are still a few ways to do the auditory equivalent of fat-fingering
commands with Alexa. It can get frustratingly far (and even more confused)
when it is starting the wrong thing and you try to stop it.

As I see it, turning on “purchases” is a sure-fire way to accidentally order
stuff every time I make a noise. Turned it all off.

