When "Voice" became a thing 10 years ago, people were losing their minds at Unil
By Oliver Bradley · September 6, 2026 · Curated by George's Blog
When "Voice" became a thing 10 years ago, people were losing their minds at Unilever over whether all Amazon orders would be placed by barking at Alexa.
I remember saying I honestly couldn't see that happening. It is too onerous and too slow to order using voice with no screen and no visual confirmation of what you are ordering. Ordering my groceries on my smartphone from my favourites weekly is less than a 5 minute job. Simples.
And well, do any of us order anything now using Alexa? Nup.
Then came the METAVERSE. It was pitched as "the next internet," but arrived more like a compulsory team-building exercise inside a low-budget video game. People were asked to wear an expensive face-computer, invite colleagues into a digital meeting room, and pretend their avatar's floating torso conveyed warmth. It did not.
Now, AI agentic shopping is being completely overhyped. My stake in the ground. It's getting ridiculous. OVER-HYPED.
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Agents adding to basket with full permission to use your credit card
is nowhere near going mainstream any time soon.
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The majority of shoppers are still learning to use Alexa, Rufus, and Sparky, and while enjoying the superior experience, they are not delegating that "add to basket" and checkout decision to the agent. Sure, Tesco is now building LLM search, great, but I am sceptical the Tesco shopper wants an Agent to check out for them weekly.
AI is absolutely changing digital commerce, but let's be honest, it is not the agentic AI part.
Somehow people have forgotten what is right in front of them in plain sight: everyone using their smartphones to do practically everything online. Banking mobile-first. Pay for Parking mobile-first, social media mobile-first.
Yet the mobile experience is very mixed.
Many mobile experiences are miserably poor from a user's point of view. Text is too small, and visual content hasn't been designed for mobile, which makes no sense as every digital commerce model is mobile-first.
Pureplay, Omnichannel, DTC, Quick Commerce, Social Commerce (TikTok, Instagram, and the Amazon YouTube blend) are all mobile-first.
So I'm amused that the hype cycle goes on...and on...
while design for mobile has been quietly overlooked.
Perhaps MOBILE didn't capture the imagination, or perhaps nobody understood what it really meant. All I know is the design-for-mobile opportunity is still WIDE OPEN.
Mobile-optimised is not mobile-readable unless you can prove it.
Two tests: Contrast & Clarity. >95% don't test.
"Mobile-optimised" was a buzzword no one knew how to measure or didn't bother.
You choose: Chase Hype or Chase Habits.