The retail industry continues to be a hotbed of patent innovation. Activity is driven by e-commerce, data analytics, and supply chain management, and the growing importance of technologies such as artificial intelligence, and augmented reality and virtual reality. In the last three years alone, there have been over 59,000 patents filed and granted in the retail industry, according to GlobalData’s report on Artificial intelligence in retail: voice commerce. Buy the report here.
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However, not all innovations are equal and nor do they follow a constant upward trend. Instead, their evolution takes the form of an S-shaped curve that reflects their typical lifecycle from early emergence to accelerating adoption, before finally stabilizing and reaching maturity.
Identifying where a particular innovation is on this journey, especially those that are in the emerging and accelerating stages, is essential for understanding their current level of adoption and the likely future trajectory and impact they will have.
50+ innovations will shape the retail industry
According to GlobalData’s Technology Foresights, which plots the S-curve for the retail industry using innovation intensity models built on over 126,000 patents, there are 50+ innovation areas that will shape the future of the industry.
Within the emerging innovation stage, skin care recommenders, 3D garment modelling, in-store theft monitoring are disruptive technologies that are in the early stages of application and should be tracked closely. Smart checkout, personalized recommendation AI, voice commerce are some of the accelerating innovation areas, where adoption has been steadily increasing. Among maturing innovation areas is automated object recognition, which is now well established in the industry.
Innovation S-curve for artificial intelligence in the retail industry
Voice commerce is a key innovation area in artificial intelligence
Voice commerce is the use of voice recognition technology to streamline e-commerce transactions, enabling users to engage with voice assistants or chatbots through spoken language rather than text-based interactions.
GlobalData’s analysis also uncovers the companies at the forefront of each innovation area and assesses the potential reach and impact of their patenting activity across different applications and geographies. According to GlobalData, there are 130 companies, spanning technology vendors, established retail companies, and up-and-coming start-ups engaged in the development and application of voice commerce.
Key players in voice commerce – a disruptive innovation in the retail industry
‘Application diversity’ measures the number of applications identified for each patent. It broadly splits companies into either ‘niche’ or ‘diversified’ innovators.
‘Geographic reach’ refers to the number of countries each patent is registered in. It reflects the breadth of geographic application intended, ranging from ‘global’ to ‘local’.
Patent volumes related to voice commerce
Source: GlobalData Patent Analytics
Leading patent filers in the voice commerce space include Walmart, Amazon.com, Microsoft and Alphabet.
Amazon is focused on pushing Alexa for deeper customer engagement via new tools for sellers. At the recently concluded Amazon Accelerate conference for independent sellers, Amazon unveiled a new feature for Alexa that enables the system to provide relevant ads that connect users to the seller pages based on a query.
In terms of application diversity, Walmart, Microsoft, and Unlikely Artificial Intelligence are the leading companies.
By geographic reach, Promptu leads the pack, while Unlikely Artificial Intelligence and aisle411 are in the second and third positions, respectively.
Voice commerce enables quick, convenient and effective ways for shoppers to seek product information and receive personalized recommendations through voice interactions. Voice commerce devices and platforms often guide users to seller or brand pages to gain expert input on product queries, enabling shoppers to make informed purchase decisions. To further understand the key themes and technologies disrupting the retail industry, access GlobalData’s latest thematic research report on Artificial Intelligence (AI) in Retail and Apparel.
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GlobalData, the leading provider of industry intelligence, provided the underlying data, research, and analysis used to produce this article.
GlobalData’s Patent Analytics tracks patent filings and grants from official offices around the world. Textual analysis and official patent classifications are used to group patents into key thematic areas and link them to specific companies across the world’s largest industries.
