Voice Commerce: The Next Frontier of Online Shopping
Published on October,26
This is what you are actually doing when shopping online
- In a search bar, you type the name of the product
- Explore pages shown in the results
- Then scroll to compare product prices.
What if we just say, and shopping is done?
Customers already talk to their phones, to WhatsApp, and to support teams. The logical progression is to let them shop the same way.
Voice commerce is changing that. It lets people shop simply by talking. Asking a phone, a smart speaker, or an app to search for a product, add it to a cart, or place an order, without touching a screen.
This is not a small niche anymore. It is becoming one of the fastest-growing ways people shop online, and it is worth understanding closely, including where it is genuinely useful and where the hype gets ahead of reality. For e-commerce brands, voice commerce represents both an opportunity and a test of how well their systems can adapt to new ways customers interact.
What Voice Commerce Actually Means
Voice commerce is the ability to use spoken commands instead of typing or tapping to:
- Search for products
- Add items to a cart
- Place orders
- Track deliveries
- Reorder familiar items
It can happen through:
- Smart speakers
- Smartphone voice assistants
- In-app voice features
- Voice notes
- Interactive voice response (IVR) systems
It is not only about completing a full purchase by voice. In many markets, including Pakistan, the more immediate value comes from voice-enabled discovery, order confirmation, customer support, and simple reorders.
How Voice Commerce Works
Voice commerce may feel simple to the customer. They just speak and get a result. But behind the scenes, it involves several connected technologies working together.
Here is the step-by-step explanation of what happens in the process:
Speech Recognition (Speech-to-Text)
The first step is to convert the speech of a customer into written text so computer can understand and further process the command.
Advanced models are trained to handle:
- Different accents
- Background noise
- Mixed languages, e.g., here in Pakistan, people usually speak a mix of Urdu and English languages
This technology has improved significantly in recent years, making it much more accurate than earlier voice systems.
Natural Language Understanding (AI Interprets Intent)
After the conversion of speech into text form, the artificial intelligence analyzes it to assess what the customer wants.
Here, AI tries to figure out:
- The intent, i.e., search, reorder, check status, cancel, etc.
- The entities, i.e., product type, color, size, brand, price range
- The context, i.e., previous orders, location, time of day, or ongoing conversation
This part of the process is very critical because good intent recognition makes the experience feel natural, whereas poor intent recognition can lead to frustration.
3. Connection to the Store’s Systems
After the AI understands the request, it connects to the brand’s e-commerce systems to take action. This usually includes:
In more advanced setups, the system can also trigger logistics updates or send a confirmation via SMS, WhatsApp, or another channel.
Response Back to the Customer
Finally, the system replies to the shopper. This can happen in different ways:
- Spoken response through a smart speaker or phone assistant
- Text confirmation on the screen
- WhatsApp or SMS message
- A combination of voice and visual feedback
When these steps work smoothly, voice commerce feels effortless. When any step is weak, especially understanding intent or connecting cleanly to the store’s systems, the experience quickly breaks down.
The Numbers Behind the Growth
The size of the voice commerce market varies depending on which research firm is measuring it, but every major report agrees on one thing,
“It is growing fast”
Grand View Research values the global voice commerce market at $42.8 billion in 2023, expecting it to reach $186.3 billion by 2030 — a growth rate of 24.6% every year.
Other firms estimate it even higher. For example, Fortune Business Insights puts 2025’s value at $67.63 billion, growing to $503.77 billion by 2034. These numbers differ because each firm defines “voice commerce” a little differently, but the direction is the same everywhere, i.e., strong and sustained growth.
Global market figures show strong momentum. Different research firms place the voice commerce market in the tens of billions of dollars today. The main drivers are:
- Smart speakers
- Improved speech recognition
- The rise of conversational AI
More importantly, consumer behavior is shifting. People value speed and convenience. Typing on a small phone screen while cooking, driving, or multitasking is inconvenient. Speaking is faster and more natural for many routine tasks, especially when:
- Reordering household essentials
- Checking order status
- Asking for product recommendations
Benefits of Voice Commerce
Greater Convenience for Customers
Customers can simply, by speaking:
- Search
- Reorder
- Check order status
This is especially useful when their hands are busy while cooking, driving, or multitasking. Voice removes the need to type or navigate through multiple screens.
Faster Shopping Experience
Speaking is usually quicker than typing on a mobile phone. Simple actions like reordering everyday items or asking for product availability can be completed in seconds, reducing friction in the buying process.
Better Support for Mobile and Hands-Free Users
The majority of people in Pakistan prefer to make an online purchase through their phones. Typing long messages on a small screen can be annoying. Voice gives them a simpler way to search or order, especially when they’re busy or don’t feel like typing
Higher Engagement Through Natural Interaction
Talking feels more natural than clicking through a website. When brands reply with voice messages or WhatsApp voice notes, customers often feel the conversation is more real and are more willing to stay engaged.
Improved Accessibility
Voice commerce makes shopping easier for people who find typing difficult, including older customers or those with visual or motor challenges. It opens the brand to a wider audience.
Stronger Potential for Repeat Purchases
Voice works especially well for reordering familiar products. Once a customer has ordered something before, a simple voice command can trigger a quick repurchase, helping brands increase customer lifetime value.
Reduced Cart Abandonment in Simple Journeys
When someone just wants to reorder something they’ve bought before, or grab a basic everyday item, voice makes the process much shorter. There’s less need to fill forms or click through multiple pages, so fewer people abandon the purchase halfway.
Competitive Advantage for Early Adopters
In Pakistan, brands that incorporate voice commerce in their online shopping strategy can attract more customers because this feature is still under exploration and not used by many online stores.
What Brands Should Actually Think About Before Investing
Voice commerce is exciting, but it should not be adopted just because it sounds futuristic. Before entering it into your system, ask some questions to evaluate whether it is right or not:
Does the product category actually fit voice shopping?
Simple, repeat purchases fit well. Complex, visual, comparison-heavy purchases usually don’t. At least not yet.
Is the back-end data accurate enough?
A voice assistant is only as reliable as the stock, price, and delivery information behind it. Brands with messy, disconnected inventory systems will get more harm than benefit from adding a voice layer on top.
Does it work properly in the customer’s own language?
A voice feature that only understands English, in a market where most shoppers are more comfortable in Urdu or a regional language, will see very limited real use.
Is it solving a real problem, or just following a trend?
The KPMG data on Alexa shopping is a useful reality check. That is, interest and actual repeated use are two very different things. Voice commerce works best when it removes real friction, like helping an older customer or someone with limited literacy shop more easily. Not when it is added purely as a marketing feature.
How Brands Can Approach Voice Commerce
From a technology provider’s perspective, the smartest path is rarely a complete rebuild. Most brands benefit from starting with high-impact, lower-complexity use cases:
Order confirmation and verification via IVR
Automated voice calls that confirm COD orders reduce cancellations and improve delivery success rates.
WhatsApp voice integration
Allowing customers to send voice notes and enabling agents (or systems) to respond appropriately improves the support experience.
Voice search readiness
Making product titles, descriptions, and FAQs more conversational so they match how people actually speak.
Simple reorder flows
Letting returning customers reorder previous purchases with a short voice command or confirmation.
Gradual expansion into full voice shopping
Once the foundation is solid, brands can explore deeper integrations with voice assistants.
Technology platforms that already support open integrations, messaging channels, and automated verification (such as solutions offered by providers like Ginkgo Retail through features including IVR and WhatsApp connectivity) make these steps more practical for mid-sized brands.
The Pakistani Context
In Pakistan, full end-to-end voice shopping through smart speakers is still limited. Smart speaker penetration remains relatively low compared with markets like the US or UK. However, several practical forms of voice interaction are already relevant:
Voice search optimization
Brands are starting to think about how customers speak when they search. Queries in Urdu, Roman Urdu, and mixed English are becoming more common.
WhatsApp voice notes and calls
Many customers prefer sending voice notes instead of typing long messages. Brands that respond with voice notes or offer voice call support often build stronger trust.
IVR and automated voice confirmation
Order verification through automated calls is widely used to reduce fake or incorrect COD orders, a major pain point in the local market.
Voice-enabled customer service
Some platforms and brands are experimenting with voice bots and smarter call routing.
Examples of local activity include platforms like Daraz and Foodpanda, which have been associated with voice search optimization efforts so that customers can find products or services through spoken queries. On the technology side, solutions that support IVR order confirmation and WhatsApp voice communication are already in use by many independent e-commerce brands.
Where This Is Headed
Voice commerce is not going to replace typing and clicking anytime soon, and the data on repeat usage shows that clearly. But it is steadily becoming one more channel serious e-commerce brands need to think about.
The focus of technology providers like Ginkgo Retail has always been on giving brands practical control over their e-commerce operations like inventory, orders, customers, and channels. Voice is an extension of that same principle. The experience becomes smoother for both the brand and the customer when a brand can:
- Confirm orders by voice
- Respond to customers through WhatsApp voice notes
- Keep all interactions connected to a single system of record
We do not believe every brand needs a full Alexa-style voice store tomorrow. We do believe that brands that ignore voice interaction entirely will gradually fall behind in convenience and customer expectations. The winners will be those who treat voice as one more natural interface on top of solid commerce foundations.
Obaid Arshad
CEO & Co-Founder