Amazon Seeks Brands To Talk To Alexa

Amazon has been reaching out to consumer packaged goods companies in an effort to get more people to make purchases through voice shopping with Amazon Alexa.

According to emails seen by Recode, the eCommerce giant wants the companies to pay a hefty price to include the smart speaker branding and an Alexa utterance in their advertising campaigns. In fact, Amazon is asking for millions of dollars’ worth of advertising impressions and months’-long campaigns on non-Amazon platforms to include the utterance.

But one marketing pro says the brands will likely negotiate for better ad campaign terms before moving forward.

“In negotiations, you don’t want to start with the most reasonable offer,” Jason Goldberg, SVP of commerce at digital marketing agency SapientRazorfish, said. “You start with the most favorable deal for you.”

For companies that decide to sign on, Amazon will provide data about how well their product is performing within its category on the site, as well as some advertising on Amazon’s sites. In addition, Amazon will also help develop the brand’s skill.

“In their perspective, it would be great for Amazon if all the holiday ads this year are for voice shopping,” Goldberg said. “The effect is that consumers will think voice shopping has arrived.”

While voice commands are popular, most consumers don’t use them to shop. Data shows that only about a quarter to a third of U.S. smart speaker owners have ever purchased something using voice — and just 2 percent of Alexa owners had made a purchase via Alexa in 2018.

Since voice shopping seems to be better suited towards smaller items, Amazon is currently targeting companies that make products like soap, diapers, packaged food and snacks. The company has already made food shopping with Alexa available for its Prime members, who can use the assistant to order items to a Whole Foods cart, with same-day delivery guaranteed within two hours.