Alexa in-skill purchasing rolls out to the UK and beyond Alexa… take my money!

Artificial Intelligence News

May 22, 2019

MOM AND POP RETAILER Amazon has announced an international rollout for in-skill purchasing, allowing skill owners to make money through Alexa devices.

After being released in the US last year, the service is now available in UK, Germany and Japan, with Canada, Mexico, Spain, India, New Zealand and Australia next to come online in the coming weeks and months.

Let’s not mince words here. What we’re actually talking about is in-app purchasing, but for Alexa apps instead of mobile apps. That’s fine, if it’s well regulated, but it does mean that there’s the potential for you to build up a tasty selection of recurring subscriptions if you don’t keep your Alexa app in check.

Quoth The Big A: “Soon, developers from around the world will be able to build premium skill experiences with localized content that is relevant for customers across different countries, languages, and currencies.

“Additionally, developers who monetize their skills across numerous skill stores will be able to tap into a larger customer base, generating revenue to kick off their global voice business.”

This is another example of Amazon’s attempts to democratise Alexa, whilst simultaneously keeping both hands on the tiller. We’ve already seen it introduce kits to make it easier to create your own skills without coding knowledge, aimed both at home and office environments, via the Alexa Development Console.

As well as in-app purchasing, you can also set up your skill to accept Amazon Pay for single purchases, offering payment processing for major credit cards without having to faff about with setting up your own e-commerce platform.

Amazon is very pleased with the results so far, citing one app with 34 per cent conversion rate from free to paid versions, whilst another reports a whopping 90 per cent conversion after users finish a free trial.

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