Article’s

Voice assistants have reached a large share of Indian smartphone users, and a substantial marketing literature now treats voice search as the next major channel for online retail. The behaviour of consumers has been slower to cooperate. This study examines how consumers perceive voice search marketing and how those perceptions translate, or fail to translate, into online shopping decisions. A structured survey of 412 online shoppers measured seven perception constructs, voice search usage intensity and the influence of voice on purchase decisions, alongside the specific shopping tasks for which voice is actually used. Reliability was acceptable throughout, with Cronbach’s alpha between 0.725 and 0.852. Usage falls away sharply as tasks move from information towards transaction: 49.0 per cent of respondents had asked a general product question by voice, 35.7 per cent had used it to find a nearby store, 19.7 per cent to re-order a familiar item and only 4.6 per cent had ever completed a purchase end to end by voice. A hierarchical regression explained 38.6 per cent of variance in purchase decision influence. Trust in voice-delivered results carried the largest standardised coefficient at 0.224, closely followed by perceived usefulness at 0.221 and perceived accuracy at 0.218, with usage intensity contributing 0.196. Perceived ease of use had no independent effect at all. Bootstrap mediation confirmed a significant but partial indirect path from usefulness through usage to purchase influence, accounting for 19.1 per cent of the total effect. Cluster analysis identified three segments, with a voice-led group of 19.9 per cent generating almost all the transactional behaviour observed. The study argues that voice search should be treated as a discovery and reassurance channel rather than a transaction channel, and that marketing investment should follow the tasks consumers actually delegate to voice.