Indians said 'I Love You' to Alexa 19K times a day in 2020

Amazon Alexa turned three in India on Monday and the customer interactions with the virtual assistant increased 67 per cent in 2020. The customers said "I love you" to Alexa 19,000 times a day, up a massive 1,200 per cent from 2019, according to the company.

More customers in non-metro cities brought home an Echo device, accounting for over 50 per cent of India's Alexa users.

"Be it the Echo device in the living room, 100+ Alexa built-in devices or your favourite smartphone, it is heart-warming to see users across the length and breadth of the country across age groups find value and adopt Alexa in their daily lives", said Puneesh Kumar, Country Leader for Alexa, Amazon India. "For us, it is always Day 1 as we learn from our customers and continue to add new features, improving Alexa's understanding on topics that matter to users locally," he said in a statement. Customers from over 85 per cent pin codes purchased Echo smart speakers in 2020.

On Alexa's third anniversary, Amazon said it will make the digital assistant affordable, more accessible for customers looking to welcome the voice service in their homes. "Starting 12 midnight on February 15, for 24 hours, sellers on Amazon.in will have blockbuster offers on best-selling Echo Devices, attractive smart home bundles and more. Customers can also shop from a curation of smart-home accessories from some of India's biggest consumer electronic brands," the company announced.

Leading smartphone brands in India now offer Alexa built-in phones. Currently, there are six smartphones including Redmi Note 9 Pro and OnePlus Nord that offer built-in Alexa.. In 2020, Alexa debuted on the Amazon Shopping App (Android only) and responded to over 5.8 Lakh requests every day to search for products, best deals, and music.

Last year, customers in India asked Alexa to control a smart home gadget 8.6 lakh times every day, preferring voice to control their smart home gadgets. Led by Amazon Echo devices, the shipments of smart home speakers were expected to cross 7.5 lakh units in India by the end of 2020, which is an all-time high, according to market research firm techARC. The market is primarily led by Amazon Echo Smart Speakers, which had a massive 95.9 per cent cumulative market share for the January-September period.