In 5 years, you'll be shopping via Conversational Commerce

I found this article by Justin Racine over at CMSWire rather stimulating, principally because it chimes with my own thinking, but also my own experiences:

Can you remember the first thing you purchased online? If you’re like me, you probably can’t. However, I do remember the awe and astonishment that came with the idea that I could enter a credit card on a website, and a few days (or maybe weeks) later, I would receive a package in the mail with what I ordered. This early form of digital shopping paves the way for what we now recognize as conversational commerce.

This is where Amazon's Alexa was meant to fix things. At least in my mind!

Occasionally it has worked for me. The famous, "Order me some more AAA batteries" prompt can work. But 9 times out of 10... or, actually, 999 times out of 1,000, I end up using the app.

That's because the Conversational AI interface has been routinely inept, inaccurate or just useless.

So for example, right now, I'm in the market for some trainers - or sneakers.

I pulled up the Very app yesterday to see what they had in stock.

What I find fascinating is the cognitive load I feel now when it comes to shopping 'online'. Perhaps it's just me. I was finding it increasingly tiresome having to serve myself by messing about with all sorts of filters.

I searched Nike. Useless. The default response were dozens of women's shoes. Some of them were Nike.

Arrrrgh.

So I went back to the main menu.

I selected men.

I selected trainers.

I selected the brand - Nike.

One result.

What?

But there were dozens on the... you what?

I just gave up.

So yes... Conversational Commerce: Bring it on. I would love to shop that way.

"Show me some Nikes like the ones I bought last time," is probably the first step.

I can imagine giving instructions and having the system respond and react in real time.

This is doable now. Today. The tech exists. It is reliable. It does work. But hardly anyone is using it properly at the moment.

Meantime I'll go and buy those trainers the old way...