86% of Shoppers Don’t Want In-Store Voice Assistants

Consumers may be beginning to use voice artificial intelligence (AI) assistants for online shopping, but they would like to keep this technology out of brick-and-mortar stores, PYMNTS Intelligence research reveals.

By the Numbers

The new PYMNTS Intelligence special report “Generation Zillennial: Voice Assistants and GenAI” draws from a survey of more than 2,700 United States consumers, examining different generations’ examines preferences and behaviors surrounding various artificial intelligence (AI) technologies.

The results revealed that only 14% of consumers across generations would like to have a voice-activated AI assistant for in-store shopping that fills a cart and arranges for same day delivery. Even younger shoppers, who tend to be quicker to adopt digital technologies, are not interested. Only 19% of Generation Z consumers, 20% of zillennials (the microgeneration between Gen Z and millennials) and 19% of millennials expressed interest.

The Data in Context

Overall, many consumers are open to voice AI in shopping. The 2024 edition of PYMNTS Intelligence’s “How the World Does Digital” report, which drew from a survey of 67,000 consumers across 11 countries, revealed that 18% of the sample uses voice technology to shop at least once a week. Plus, 16% pay using the technology with the same frequency.

Adoption is particularly high among these younger generations. Thirty percent of Gen Z consumers and 28% of millennials reported shopping via voice technology weekly, and 30% and 26%, respectively, pay.

In a March interview with PYMNTS, Cerence CRO Christian Mentz highlighted that the latest AI models’ contextual awareness and natural language processing (NLP) have transformed voice capabilities. These have evolved from merely providing information to delivering a more intuitive, human-like experience.

“Customers can actually have a much more conversational interaction with their … devices,” Mentz said. “[Conversational AI is] becoming much less of a task master, but you can interact with the system in a more natural, conversational way.”