arbiter
JournalsPricingAccount

The user experience of voice assistants in retailing: a qualitative comparative study

Obinna Alo et al.

Qualitative Market Research: an international journal2025https://doi.org/10.1108/qmr-08-2024-0171article
AJG 2ABDC B
Weight
0.37

What the paper says

Purpose This study aims to examine the user experience of voice assistants (VAs) in different retailing contexts by highlighting factors that impact the effectiveness of voice commerce services. Design/methodology/approach This study follows a qualitative research method using 30 in-depth semi-structured interviews with online shoppers (15 users of VAs from Nigeria and 15 from the UK). Following Gioia’s methodology and automated content analysis using LexiPortal, this paper examined users’ motivations for adopting VAs, their challenges and how VAs might influence customers’ brand trust and loyalty. Findings This paper found that anthropomorphism, convenience, companionship and literacy support drove shoppers’ adoption of VAs. Technophobia, audio bias, audio disparity and data security emerged as challenges facing VA users. In addition, the Nigerian participants also highlighted unreliable power supply. Despite these challenges, the participants have developed trust and personal attachment to their VAs. Originality/value This study is one of the few academic works to specifically analyse how retail experiences are shaped through VAs in a comprative setting of British and Nigerian VA users. The findings enrich the extant literature on user experience of VAs with a granular focus on customer motivations as well as challenges.

1 citation

Open paper page →

Cite this paper

https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.1108/qmr-08-2024-0171

Or copy a formatted citation

@article{obinna2025,
  title        = {{The user experience of voice assistants in retailing: a qualitative comparative study}},
  author       = {Obinna Alo et al.},
  journal      = {Qualitative Market Research: an international journal},
  year         = {2025},
  doi          = {https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.1108/qmr-08-2024-0171},
}

Paste directly into BibTeX, Zotero, or your reference manager.

Flag this paper

The user experience of voice assistants in retailing: a qualitative comparative study

Flags are reviewed by the Arbiter methodology team within 5 business days.

Evidence weight

0.37

Balanced mode · F 0.40 / M 0.15 / V 0.05 / R 0.40

F · citation impact0.16 × 0.4 = 0.06
M · momentum0.53 × 0.15 = 0.08
V · venue signal0.50 × 0.05 = 0.03
R · text relevance †0.50 × 0.4 = 0.20

† Text relevance is estimated at 0.50 on the detail page — for your query’s actual relevance score, open this paper from a search result.