Alexa, I need ... everything. Voice shopping sales could reach $40 billion by 2022

According to a recent survey by, shopping by voice is expected to grow from $2 billion today to $40 billion in the next four years. But how far along are smart speakers right now? USA TODAY Isabelle Olsson, lead designer for home hardware for Google, Inc., introduces the new Google Home Mini at a product launch event, October 4, 2017, at the SFJAZZ Center. The retail revolution that is shifting sales from stores to laptops to smartphones could be on the verge of its next sea change -- when shoppers will ask Amazon's Alexa, and other voice-driven speakers, to order just about everything. Purchases made through devices like Google Home and Amazon's Echo are projected to leap from $2 billion today to $40 billion by 2022, as technology improves, U.S. consumers become more comfortable, and the speakers become nearly as commonplace in homes as a flat-screen TV, according to a new study from OC&C Strategy Consultants. "We really see this as the next big disruptive play in U.S. retail,'' says John Franklin, associate partner at OC&C which surveyed 1,500 smart speaker owners in December . The smart speaker space is one that many tech giants want to play in. Though Amazon and its digital helper Alexa have come to define the niche, Google Home with its Google Assistant is second in popularity. Apple began shipping its Siri-assisted HomePod smart speaker in February. Microsoft's "Cortana" is also part of the mix. For now, the most popular use of voice-driven speakers is to play music or find out whether to take an umbrella when heading out the front door, OC&C says. More: Amazon's Alexa has a new voice, Jeff Bezos reveals in Super Bowl ad But with virtual assistants that can turn up a thermostat and even rattle off jokes, voice-driven speakers are at the center of a budding universe of AI-connected devices that include bathroom mirrors, door locks, and TV monitors. Smart home product sales are expected to total $4.5 billion this year, up 34% from 2017, according to The Consumer Technology Association. Among the U.S. residents who have a smart speaker, 62% have used it to buy groceries or some other item, according to OC&C's study. And the report predicts that the percentage of U.S. homes with a smart speaker will rise from the current 13% to 55% by 2022. "That number has been going up incredibly rapidly over the last two years,'' Franklin says.