The Essay Explores The Impact Of Digital Assistance And Voice Search On Consumer Behavior.

Impact of digital assistance and voice search on shopping behavior

Question:

Discuss about the Digital Marketing And Consumer Behaviour.

In the modern world, technology plays an important part in the lives of people. With the advent of technology, people across the globe have managed to improve their lives. According to Skinner (2016), every field of life requires the assistance of technology. Technology even is updated every day that makes it favourable for people to adapt to the changes that go on in the daily environment. The report discusses the influence of technology on the behaviours of customers. To understand the report more clearly, one of the most trending technological developments has been analysed in the report. The effectiveness of digital assistance and voice search like Alexa, Siri and Cortana are analysed. The behaviour of the consumers with the application of the mode and the change in the traditional buying process of the customers are discussed. The emergence of such a technology can be a threat as well as an opportunity for many industries. The report analyses this aspect by identifying the areas of threat and opportunity in the market.

The technology in focus here is the emergence and effectiveness of digital assistance as well as voice search. As stated by Turkle (2017) the revolution in the technological field has emerged vastly due to the introduction of voice search and digital assistance particularly during the time of travelling. Earlier days, people used to carry maps whenever there was an arrangement to visit unknown places. However, in the modern world, the emergence of technologies such as Google maps, HERE WeGo maps, MaFactor and so on have provided people with the opportunity to find directions using mobile phones (Diatmika, Irianto and Baridwan 2016). Such technology is also available in modern cars so that people can drive freely without having to worry about being lost.

Voice search applications such as the development of Siri, Cortana, Bing, Alexa and so on have even given a new turn towards technology. Thus, these technologies have provided the customers with the utmost benefit of leading a fully technical life. For example, while travelling by car, a person can use voice search to locate a particular destination. This can be done by posting a command to any of the voice search application such as Siri and providing with the necessary details related to the destination of search. According to Peek et al. (2014), the rapid increase of popularity in the market of this type of technology suggests that this type of searching will exist in the market for years to come. Therefore, it is necessary to analyse the reaction of the customers based on the growth and application of the technology.

One of the biggest advantages of the emergence of this technology is the way by which people shop. As observed by Goos, Manning and Salomons (2014) the manner in which people shop have evolved with the modernisation of the world. Similarly, the introduction of voice search and digital assistance can change the manner of shopping. Instead of searching the online shop portals by typing via hand, people can command to search for the best and nearest shops available within the vicinity. This can provide the necessary result required for success. Apart from this, the interaction with the organisations can improve as the navigation system can be used to reach the organisation without any effort (Khosravi, Rezvani and Wiewiora 2016). Thus, people can directly take their problems to the concerned organisation. It can be said that the buying decision of the people can change, as the people need to can narrow down the list of shops and products available that provide pocket-friendly prices. A command can be made to search for products with pocket-friendly prices and to search the nearest shopping centre in the neighbourhood.

Analysis of consumer behavior using the sociological model

According to Knockaert, Spithoven and Clarysse (2014), the emergence of the new technologies can improve the relationship between the people and companies. As stated, people can search for the location of the companies and personally visit the place to provide their feedback. This can be helpful as the direct response from the customers can help an organisation to gain success. At the same time, loyalty to a high-quality brand may change, as most people would prefer to shop in areas that are close to the neighbourhood and that provide a pocket-friendly price to the people. Thus, the high priced brands can be threatened by the local markets. As observed by this provides a significant change in the relationship between the people and companies and can deal a major blow to reputed organisations. On the other hand, local stores may benefit with the emergence of the latest technologies in the market.

As stated by Zeugner-Roth, Žabkar and Diamantopoulos (2015) analysis of consumer behaviour is essential to understand the psychology of the consumers. This can be best described with the application of a consumer behaviour model such as the sociological model. The sociological model provides evidence that since individuals are part of a society, other people in the society influence them. The choices made by these people adversely affect the choices made by the society as a whole. In this regard, the buying behaviour of the people can be systematically divided into six stages. The behaviour starts with the recognition of the problem that leads to the search for information (Oliver 2014). This leads to the evaluation of alternative wherein the person involved gather information about other sources that may be effective than the current trend. This leads to the decision to purchase after which the action is executed. The post-purchase evaluation allows people to compare the product with that purchased by others.

In the case of the digital assistance and voice search, the adoption of this technology can undergo a similar process. According to Solomon et al. (2014), people can be reluctant to use the technology initially in the fear that it may complicate the search process. However, upon further searching about the effectiveness of the technology and trying to find out alternatives, the importance of this type of technology can influence the purchase decision of a consumer. In this case, the adoption of the application can help people to be technically sound and updated. The post-purchase or post-adoption of this technology includes the satisfaction of the customers. This may change the decision-making process among customers as a wider range of choices can be made that can be used for the deciding upon a particular product. In this regard, it can be said that technology adoption lifecycle can be used to analyse the possible longevity of the technology.

According to Claiborne and Sirgy (2015), the application of the diffusion of innovation theory proposes that people adopt a new idea towards a particular product. This means that a person adopts a different strategy during the purchase decision of a product. About six different categories help in identifying the characteristics of the people while making a purchase decision. These include innovators, early adopters, early majority, late majority and laggards. In the case of the digital assistance and voice search technology, the people can be categorised as early adopters of the technology. As stated by Juster (2015) such a category provides about 13.5% of the total population in the society. This provides an opportunity other industries, as a minimum number of people know the advent of latest technology. However, the people knowing about the latest technology can pose threat to many business organisations.

Technology adoption lifecycle

As observed by Ge, Zhang and Zhang (2017) threats posed by the introduction of latest technology usually affect organisations that lack are backward than the others. However, in the case of the application of the latest technology such as voice search and digital assistance, organisations that are branded faces threats. The threat mostly occurs from the local market, as the voice search and digital assistance provide customers with the choices to visit the local organisations that sell the same product at a cheaper rate. Thus, the branded organisations have to deal with the threats of the local market and accordingly improve the price of the products they sell.

However, no such industry remains to be threatened out of existence as the reputed organisations normally enjoy the pleasure of serving high-quality products in the market. Larivière et al. (2016) stated that products and services also do not face threats of being obsolete due to the emergence of the technology. However, similar search engines such as Google search or Yahoo search, or even paper maps may face the threat of being obsolete. This is because, with the advent of the voice search engines, people will no longer be typing their thoughts in Google search. Rather making a command in engines such as Siri or Cortana can be effective to search the required destination or product. Similarly, paper maps will become obsolete as mobile phones, as well as cars, have an inbuilt navigation system. Hence, industries involved in making paper maps or have a high brand value due to its price need to change their strategies so that they can remain updated in the latest competitive environment. However, the latest technology also provides opportunities to certain industries so that it can improve its condition.

Orel and Kara (2014) observed that the advent of the latest technology could be beneficial to local companies. As stated earlier, digital assistance and voice search system provide local markets with an opportunity to gain success. The low prices of similar products as manufactured and sold by branded companies can be a huge opportunity for the local organisations. This provides it with an opportunity to gain recognition in the international market and ensure that the customer base is increased. The type of organisation that can benefit from the latest technology includes local retail stores, restaurant and hotels. This is mainly because people tend to live, eat and shop from places regularly from local stores and establishments (Oliver 2014).

Thus, the local market can have a significant improvement due to the improvement of the technology in the modern world. On the other hand, it can be said that the branded companies need to reduce the cost of their products. This is because the threat from local competitors is a significant external environment threat that ensures most organisations does not get the success it has in other countries. Thus, the prices of the products need to be cut down so that the local market loses competitiveness. As observed by Diatmika, Irianto and Baridwan (2016) most local markets do not possess the luxury of technology that can help them to develop a huge customer base, hence the branded companies can gain a significant advantage by reducing the price of the products so that it remains at par with the prices in the local market. At the same time, the services provided can be improved by setting up small shops in the local areas. This can be advantageous to companies that provide after sale services of products. Logistic industries can benefit from the change in services provided by the organisations.

Conclusion

Thus, it can be concluded that in the modern world, the advent of technology plays an important role. Continuous update of the technologies provides an opportunity for industries and organisations to improve its business. Digital assistance and voice search are two of the most recent developments that have been introduced in the technical world. These developments are useful to people in all type of business as it helps them to navigate through the locality to search for products and services. The analysis of the report shows that this technology is still at an early development stage. However, with time, the application of the technology can be useful to a large mass of people. The late majority of the population can adopt this technology and hope for the stability of the technical services that are provided by the voice search and digital assistance. Thus, overall this is one of the best improvements made in the technological world.

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