EDITORIAL Voice, machine-learning and delivery: how Amazon, Sainsbury’s and mobiles.co.uk are using technology

Are you happy to pay by voice? If the answer’s yes, then what would you pay for using your trusted voice assistant? Would you pay for toilet paper? For groceries? For a flight? If the answer’s yes to all, then how many others agree with you? These are the questions that a new study from Paysafe aimed to answer when it questioned more than 6,000 adults from five countries including the UK. The results make interesting reading for retailers considering adopting this technology in the future. 

We report on new insights into Amazon’s Prime Day event that aim to show what the two day event did both for its own business, and for those of its competitors. There are some surprising findings, including some very high conversion rates, which, say Hitwise analysis, suggests a very direct – preplanned? – path to purchase. And Amazon’s UK Prime scheme appears to have boosted its membership significantly during the course of the event, although the data included suggestions that some may be joining only to leave once the deals are over. We also feature analysis from AppsFlyer that considers what the effect of the event was on other retailers’ apps. 

We report as Sainsbury’s offers takeaway pizza delivery via mobile, thanks to a partnership with Deliveroo, with a word of caution from one analyst, and we look at how Mobiles.co.uk is using machine learning to offer personalised deals.

Over the course of this summer, we’ll be using the traditional lull to surface findings and interviews from InternetRetailing and RetailX research publications and white papers that appeared over the course of the year. We hope they provide useful summer reading at a time of year that always lends itself to reflection and to catching up on what was missed over a busy autumn and spring – before the rush starts again in September. Today we’re featuring IREU Top500 analysis of how European retailers are adapting to a mobile-first multichannel world. 

Today’s guest comment comes from PJ Scott of Velocity Commerce, who considers the new sales funnel, and how direct-to-consumer channels affect purchase decisions.

Image: Fotolia

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