Press

„Ok Google, rede mit OTTO“

10/24/2017

With immediate effect OTTO is compatible with the German version Google’s Digital Assistant – and therefore with the Google Home smartspeaker, amongst other systems. This makes OTTO one the first 3rd-party providers to collaborate with Google’s Digital Assistant in Germany. As a first step, users will receive service information as well as on new offers and campaigns.

“Ok Google – talk to OTTO!” Say that in German ("rede mit OTTO") to your Google Home smart speaker and you will be immediately connected with ‘OTTO Action’. Users can then ask the Digital Assistant a range of questions, such as “What’s the deal of the day?”, “What campaigns are currently running?” or “What’s the OTTO Shopping Festival?” What is special here is that the software converses with the user, proactively asks whether it can be of further assistance, answers user requests, and at the end of the dialogue says a polite goodbye. It is not necessary to install OTTO Action separately via a Smartphone.

Digital dialogue on all end-user devices with Google Assistant

Customers can not only digitally dialogue via Google’s smartspeaker Google Home, which was launched on the German market in August this year, or via Google Home Mini: OTTO Action is available on every smartphone or end-user device on which the Google Assistant has been installed – and therefore works both on Android and Apple devices. In addition to this, more and more 3rd-party devices such as smartspeakers and smart headphones are using the Digital Assistant, meaning that an increasingly dense network of end-user devices is currently developing that are compatible with the Assistant.

OTTO sieht in Voice Commerce großes Potenzial

“We are convinced that voice-steered interaction will change e-commerce. This is why we are delighted to be able to offer our customers the first voice-recognition based functions, and to test new functions and services directly with them. We see great potential in Voice Commerce and intend to trial this technology as a further touchpoint that makes it even easier for our customers to interact with OTTO”, says Marc Opelt, Member of the OTTO Management Board, Marketing and OTTO Spokesman.

Using the OTTO app’s search function via voice has been possible since November last year. The interactive informational dialogues with OTTO Action now represent the first step in Conversational Commerce; OTTO will continue to work on this to further refine and develop Action for the Google Assistant. Numerous other, more personal Use Cases are under consideration for the future too – for instance, the Assistant will be able to check the current delivery status of a customer’s order at OTTO.