Using smart speakers to make purchases is rising, as people become more familiar with the emerging tech and the convenience of shopping from home. To compete, brick-and-mortar stores must step up and provide innovative shopping experiences that can only be had in real life.

The number of voice-first devices shipped in 2017 was over four times higher than in 2016, and roughly 20% of Google mobile searches are now done via voice. The growing popularity of voice assistants isn't just helping people save time and effort though, it's also making tech more accessible.

Voice recognition tech is becoming increasingly advanced, leading more people to use it in their everyday lives; the virtual assistant market is set to be worth $3.07 billion by 2020, and Amazon expects to sell ten million Echo devices in 2017 alone. But do people really want to chat to their devices?

As more and more people worldwide use virtual assistants such as Siri and Alexa, both within homes and on the go, it’s becoming increasingly important for brands to consider how these AIs respond with their ‘voices’. What should they sound like, and what kind of tone should they take with users?