Speak and shop! Transforming retail experience with AI voice assistants

Purpose This study outlines the process by which consumers establish brand loyalty through the use of AI voice assistants. Design/methodology/approach This study adopted the combined importance-performance map analysis (cIPMA) to examine the research model. Findings The results indicated that all human-like and technological attributes significantly impact parasocial interactions (except for system quality). The cIPMA showed that information quality, perceived anthropomorphism and perceived interoperability are critical for fostering parasocial interactions and consumers’ power experience but are currently underperforming. Parasocial interactions show high importance but low performance in driving deep structure usage. Practical implications Businesses should invest in developing more human-like, intelligent and interactive voice assistants. Retailers and developers should enhance anthropomorphic design, integrate advanced NLP and emotion recognition and improve algorithmic accuracy to facilitate seamless and engaging user interactions. Practitioners must balance security and user experience, ensuring transparency without compromising convenience. Originality/value This study offers a comprehensive framework for understanding consumer behavior in response to AI voice assistants and how these interactions foster brand loyalty.