Argos has launched a “voice shopping” service to let people reserve products in a local store using a Google Home smart speaker.
For the first time, customers can use just their voice to reserve technology, toys and home essentials for same-day pick up from more than 850 Argos stores by using the Google Assistant.
As well as placing reservations with voice command, customers can also ask Google to search for products and check availability. They can also find a store by simply saying “OK Google, Ask Argos to find my nearest store”. Customers can also use Argos Click & Collect to pick-up purchases from a convenient store location of their choice.
The Voice Shop service launches at a time when smart speakers are increasingly taking up residence in British homes. One in ten households in the UK now has a digital home assistant and voice shopping is forecast to be worth £3.5 billion in the UK by 2022
John Rogers, Chief Executive Officer at Argos, said: “Voice technology has the potential to revolutionise how we shop in the future. Digital home assistants have soared in popularity over the past year and people are increasingly looking to their smart devices to help with the smooth running of their lives.
“Argos is a digitally-led business at the forefront of technology and it’s really exciting that we are harnessing the simplicity of voice ordering with the convenience and popularity of Click & Collect to make our customers’ lives easier. We predict that the Voice Shop service will be a big hit and we will develop and refine the offer further as we get feedback from our customers.”
