Online retailer partners with Google to allow Australian consumers to purchase gifts using voice assistant
EBay has teamed up with Google’s AI-powered virtual assistant to allow Australian consumers to buy directly from their Google Home and Android smartphone in time for Christmas.
Under the new partnership, which officially launched on 29 November, consumers can search eBay’s catalogue of 60 million listings by prefacing their request to Google Home or a compatible Android smartphone with ‘Ask eBay’ or ‘Talk to eBay’. The online marketplace claimed it’s one of the first brands to take advantage of multi-surface switching capability, meaning users can carry a voice conversation on Google Assistant over to their phone and complete a purchase.
It’s also launched a new ‘What’s it worth’ function, which gives shoppers the ability to ask what something is worth on eBay.The capabilities take advantage of Google's artificial intelligence (AI) powered voice assistant.
EBay managing director of A/NZ markets, Tim MacKinnon, said the intention was to make shopping as straightforward as having a conversation.
“EBay has a long history of being the first to market with new innovations here in Australia, and our latest collaboration with Google is no exception,” he said. “EBay built this technology from the ground up and it’s the perfect example of how artificial intelligence is helping to make a truly personalised shopping experience.”
According to MacKinnon, multi-switching was made possible through the accumulation of unstructured data around Australian shopping.
“We are looking at the future of retail here, and we are excited to be at the early stages of this new commerce frontier,” he said.
MacKinnon also noted 80 of Australia’s 100 largest retailers are now represented on eBay, including Myer and Woolworths.
“This partnership expands our technological capabilities to provide even greater access for consumers,” he added.
Google launched its voice-powered Home speaker in Australia in July this year, nine months after its debut in the US. Among the list of compatible apps and products for the unit are Google Chromecast, the brand’s wireless video streaming dongle; Philips’ Hue smarthome offering; Wiz LED and Osram smartlight bulbs; Samsung’s SmartThings Hub; Hive thermostats; and appliances such as GE’s washing machine.
Follow CMO on Twitter: @CMOAustralia, take part in the CMO conversation on LinkedIn: CMO ANZ, join us on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/CMOAustralia, or check us out on Google+:google.com/+CmoAu
Creating a strong company culture may sound like a daunting task, but it’s actually pretty straightforward. In fact, company culture is created in exactly the same fashion as a religion or democracy. Behaviours created from the organisation’s inception are reinforced over time by leadership, attracting like-minded people and eventually reaching critical mass to become an accepted ‘truth’.
The question I get asked most regularly these days is: ‘Do I need to rebuild my company’s systems on Blockchain?’ And the answer, every time, is ‘No, you’re asking the wrong question’.
Throughout my career, I have witnessed a litany of brand names that profess to have a unique customer value proposition (CVP). In reality, however, they’ve had little more than a ‘value proposition’: A simple list of benefits applied to a general audience.
In this bonus last episode of this new podcast series, BrandHook MD, Pip Stocks, talks with former ANZ group general manager of marketing, Louise Eyres, talks about the importance of thinking like a customer and using intuition to solve customer painpoints.
RE: Sales and marketing SLAs, often the choke point isn't the teams but them getting the data into the tools they want to use with the da...
Ed Fry
Why sales and marketing alignment is more important than ever
Thank you for the good and very helpful information. It is very interesting. I love all the things you share and see your beautiful creat...
รัตนาวดี ภูมิวรรณ
Former eHarmony marketing chief joins telco startup
Colin Kaepernick, not Mike Kapernick.
thisisw
Zenith's innovation leader: Mid-digital age not benefitting media, brands or consumers
AGA KHAN HOSPITAL is in need of kidney donors for the sum of 2 crore, Contact us today if you want to sell your kidney for money, and thi...
Sebastian Friedrich
Mindshare gets behind blockchain advertising alliance
WelcomeThe world 's coolest Mercedes companyI am a personal addict on this carBut poverty does not allow me to watch on YouTube for us po...
amer hassan
ASX-listed GrowthOps appoints inaugural CMO