Officeworks announces its integration with the Google Assistant
Officeworks became the second retailer to jump onto the voice interaction bandwagon, declaring an integration with Google Assistant that would enable consumers to engage with its products as well as brand via voice-activated devices.
Through this voice activation, customers can add products to their ‘shopping list’, search product information on 35,000 SKUs, check product availability in-store, find store locations & trading hours & also place orders on the Officeworks website. For doing so, consumers will have to say ‘ok Google, talk to officeworks’to their compatible voice device.
According to David Pisker, Officeworks customer experience and e-commerce manager, the integration with Google Assistant is proof of the retailer’s commitment to offering the people of Australia a seamless multichannel experience. “We are excited to provide customers with another way to engage with our brand anywhere, anytime and in any way they want.
“It’s easier than ever to manage different aspects of your home and office ahead of time or from a remote location. Our aim is to educate Australians on how this smart technology can benefit their everyday lives.”
Officeworks partnered with digital agency partner, First, for delivering its Google Home project. “Voice is the next stage of how people will explore the web and interact with Brands and Companies alike. Already 20 percent of Search on Google is performed via voice and this will grow to over 50% by 2020,” says head of operations at First, Matt Ware.
“Companies, like Officeworks, who adopt this medium early will be well ahead of their competitors in terms of understanding how their customers want to talk with them and what answers to give in return to assist. We are very excited to be working with Officeworks to bring such an innovative tool to market.”
According to Pisker, customers have positively responded to Officeworks’ broader smart home as well as office range, with increasing awareness & interest resulting in over 250 percent sales growth in the category year-on-year.
This announcement came weeks after Officeworks’ launched its two hours click & collect service, which along with its free same-day delivery, offers people with a more seamless omnichannel shopping experience.
eBay has also announced its partnership with Google, allowing the people of Australia to use Google Assistant for accessing eBay’s 60 million plus products via voice command to search for it.