“What do I give to my wife/husband?”-anyone who does this shock sigh and has a Google phone or a voice-controlled Google speaker nearby could soon get help. The online clothing retailer Zalando, toger with Google, has developed a gift finder that can be controlled by language. “You start with something light,” says Nicolas Borg, who is responsible for strategic development at Zalando, “and n narrows it, asks clarification questions.”
But do customers want something like this at all, is it conceivable that y sit down at home and ask ir Google speakers for help? Borg believes it will happen. The customers, he says, would not only use apps to search and order something, but all possible channels that open up. “We need a good app,” he says, “but we also need to be different.” Since big companies are investing heavily in voice-driven applications, he also believes that this is an important trend. And: “We have to be where customer is.”
Most clearly, success of Amazon’s voice-controlled loudspeaker series Echo has shown that re seems to be a need to use an assistant function for which you don’t have to tap and wipe. That this would be especially case at home is illuminated, because in office or outside is usually neir opportune, nor because of background noise practicable to put on voice control.
Borg sees Zalando project with Gift Finder as an experimental balloon. He’ll show how customers interact with system. The aim is always, according to Borg, to fulfill wishes of customers, “we don’t want to impose anything on m,” he says. As it is of course also important to see what a virtual consultant suggests, re is also a connection to mobile phone or tablet. On devices you can n look at things.
if (typeof AdController !== ‘undefined’) { AdController.render(‘iqadtile4’); } if (typeof window.performance === ‘object’ && typeof window.performance.mark === ‘function’) { window.performance.mark(‘monitor_iqadtile4_render’); } if (typeof SDE.init.initIQAdTile !== ‘undefined’) { SDE.init.initIQAdTile(‘full’, ‘iqadtile4’, false); }
The cooperation with Google will bring both companies something, Borg is safe. For Zalando Anor possible sales channel, for Google a useful application of your virtual assistant. In development of Gift finder, it was important to be easy to control, and: “It should also be fun and playful”. In about three weeks virtual helper is supposed to be online-in time for Christmas business.
