When same-day-delivery service Jetblack launched last week out of Walmart’s incubator, Store No. 8, it was billed as a new order-by-text service. But Katie Finnegan, founder and principal of Store No. 8, told the audience at MIT Technology Review’s EmTech Next event today that audio ordering and “conversational commerce” is the final goal.
For $50 a month, Jetblack customers in New York City can order a product via text message and have it delivered to their door that day or the next. But Store No. 8 hopes that a voice interface will soon make it possible to remove the texting step. Sound familiar? It may if you already have an Amazon Alexa–enabled device.
For now, text is where Walmart hopes to gauge customer interest and prove the viability of the Jetblack service. “Text is something where consumers are extremely comfortable. There is no barrier to entry for the consumer,” said Finnegan. “But over time, our thesis is, people will start doing this over voice.”
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