What happens when Alexa has an opinion on products you should purchase? The new way Amazon plans to commoditize brands.

Jan 17

At the beginning of 2017, I predicted that voice search, and especially Alexa/Echo, will have a significant impact on how we find things online. The Echo was the biggest selling product on all of Amazon during the 2017 holidays, and that is only one part of Amazon’s master strategy to commoditize brand names.

More Echos and Alexas mean more questions that Amazon is going to be asked, which of course means Amazon will gladly do all of the hard work for you and tell you exactly what to purchase.

Alexa is already prioritizing their AmazonBasics brand, such as batteries, over existing products.

More Echos and Alexas mean more questions that Amazon is going to be asked, which of course means Amazon will gladly do all of the hard work for you and tell you exactly what to purchase.

Alexa is already prioritizing their AmazonBasics brand, such as batteries, over existing products.

But what happens when Alexa not just recommends Basics over brand names,but also has an opinion on what brand name products you should buy?

If you ask Alexa right now what her favorite beer is, she will tell you it’s Budweiser. Go ahead, try it right now.

Think about some of these other commands:

Alexa, what is your favorite TV?
Alexa, can you buy me pens for school?
Alexa, can you buy me diapers?

If Alexa doesn’t have an AmazonBasics item for the category you’re looking for, it will give you a single recommendation.

That’s right. It’s not going to give you a list of 5 products you can choose from, It’s going to give you one recommendation and it’s also going to be one click voice command away from purchasing!

And I’ll be damned if they recommend a product that doesn’t exist on Amazon.