Google have been steadily expanding the Actions on Google although sometimes it takes a while for the functionality to arrive here in Australia. Last year Google introduced an Action to allow users ot pay for items using Google Assistant but was not available here, until now.
Via their Twitter page Google have announced that Google Assistant will now support transactions on phones in Australia:
The Google Assistant now supports transactions on phones in the UK, Canada, Australia, France, Germany & Japan! Start localizing your Actions today
Learn more here –> https://t.co/5wo8OPrmfO
— Actions on Google (@ActionsOnGoogle) April 5, 2018
Using the Google Transactions API which is now available in Australia, apps can allow users to pay for items within the Google Assistant app using the credit card attached to their credit card account. The Transactions API also allows the app to handle reservations or appointments such as restaurant reservations, haircuts or even fitness classes.
Within the app Google Assistant can ask for the preferred delivery address giving a choice of those within your Google account. The delivery address can then also be used to determine availability and to calculate shipping costs.
At the end the user either confirms/accepts or rejects the order and if accepted the app/Google Assistant confirms the order is active and the receipt will appear in the user’s Assistant order history. The order number associated with this receipt can then be used to send structured order updates to the user.
The API then allows for extra dialogue including giving the user an option to create an account on the webpage or ask you to reorder your favourite items.
At this stage the service is available to Android devices (and iOS) running Google Assistant but will be arriving on Google Assistant-powered smart speakers soon. Google is yet to figure out how to restrict purchases on the smart speakers to certain family members (ie. the kids will not be able to order a pizza on a whim hopefully) so buyer beware if you have sneaky kids around the place like I do.
The goal is to offer Australians a smoother online shopping experience when speaking to their smart devicesRick Osterloh, Google’s Senior Vice President of Hardware
At this stage we do not know of any apps in Australia that include this functionality but we expect the usual suspects such as Domino’s Pizza to integrate it in the not so distant future.
