Mobile phones have become tools for daily deal deals. In Latin America, 20% of online sales are made with a smartphone and the trend is for the figure to rise in the coming years.

Face to face sales have evolved and smartphones have accelerated online sales. This purchase method is not exempt from changes, and orders will be made with the help of voice assistants.

Marcos Pueyrredon, president of the eCommerce Institute, mentioned during eCommerce Day Guatemala 2019 a trend that will be seen in the next five years in e-commerce: speech recognition will displace the touch screen.

“All the purchases that are now done with a click, then will be done with the voice. There will be great disruptive changes under the concept of simplicity for the consumer, and the challenges will be for the offer. “

Marcos Pueyrredon

Voice commerce, or also called “voice commerce”, does not refer to purchases by mobile but is linked to the use of voice assistants on smartphones or tablets for users to buy products.

In the world, people use voice aids on their smart phones to perform simple tasks, such as setting alarms, making phone calls or playing music before bedtime.

A survey by Social Lens Research (2018) found that while 25% of users of voice commands in the US. UU they use their voice to find a new product, only 10% use the technology to buy.

Voice purchases do not happen very often, according to Chatmeter, which surveyed 1,000 users of EE voice technology. UU For the most part, purchases are occurring sporadically.

As users become comfortable with voice technology, the numbers will grow. In countries of Latin America, the step from touch to voice is logical, since the use of smartphone for purchases is increasing.

José Lozada, Visa’s regional director of solutions for merchants and acquirers, said there is a strong opportunity to do business with mobile phones in Latin America, since there is only 20% penetration of this channel.

“Latin America is fertile ground for m-commerce and there are positive projections with estimated sales of US $ 19 billion for 2019, when in 2017 it was calculated that there were sales of US $ 17 billion,” he explained.

The good and bad

Lozada explained the “good side” of mobile sales by indicating that they are a channel that is gaining strength in the region and has sales projections for US $ 27 billion for 2022.

In spite of the encouraging number, the directive of Visa, indicates that they must have strategies of prevention before frauds in mobile channels, since it is a real threat in Latin America.

The global indicators of online fraud for 2017 point out that only 45% of businesses have tools against e-commerce fraud. The most worrying thing is that there is a 4% that are not aware of:

• Identity Theft.
• Theft of accounts
• Money laundering.
• Friend fraud
• Among others.

According to a study by the consultancy Lexis Nexis, the companies dedicated to eCommerce presented in the first quarter of 2018 losses of US $ 20 billion globally due to some form of online fraud.

Lozada concludes that online fraud is a topic that entrepreneurs and entrepreneurs can not ignore, since the only way to avoid online fraud is to have a sales statistics to zero.

In Guatemala, Internet sales grew 13% last year and reached US $ 900 million, according to the Trade Union Elelectronics of Guatemala.