From ‘Alexa, I love you!’ to ‘Rasodey me kaun tha?’: Here’s how Indians interacted with Amazon’s Alexa in 2020

Amazon has announced the third anniversary of its virtual assistant Alexa in India.

February 15, 2021, will mark three years since Amazon Alexa and Echo devices were made available for users in India.

Over the past year, customers in India have interacted with Alexa millions of times each week in English, Hindi and Hinglish. Interactions with Alexa increased by 67 per cent more in 2020 as compared to 2019.

Alexa users spanned the corners of the country and came in equal numbers from metros such as Delhi, Mumbai, Bengaluru as well as smaller cities such as Spiti, Bundi, and Gadchiroli, Amazon said.

Here’s how Indians are interacting with Amazon’s virtual assistant:

Alexa, I love you!

Customers in India professed their love for Alexa in 2020 by saying “Alexa, I love you” a whopping 19,000 times a day, up 1,200 per cent from 2019.

Alexa, rasodey mein kaun tha? / Alexa, who was in the kitchen?

Staying on top of the Indian pop culture phenomenon, Alexa’s quirky answer to “Alexa, rasodey mein kaun tha? (Alexa, who was in the kitchen)” was the most popular in 2020. Customers asked her this question over 14,000 times in a day in 2020.

The virtual assistant also helped users with answers to factual questions. Alexa answered more than 86,000 factual questions every day, the tech giant said.

Alexa and the sound of music

Indians loved listening to their favourite songs on Alexa with the virtual assistant getting over 17 lakh song requests every day. The top five most requested songs ranged from prayers and bhajans such as Shree Hanuman Chalisa, Bollywood music with the song Shaitan Ka Saala, and children’s music with Baby Shark.

Alexa also started serving Urdu and Love Shayari along with the works of popular poets like Mirza Ghalib. Poetry got a lot of love from customers who asked for Shayari at least 3,000 times a day.

Alexa making people smile

Alexa was asked to crack a joke close to 9,000 times every day. She also made for a good laugh-along buddy, with customers asking her to laugh along around 12,000 times every day.

Alexa, the shopper

Alexa debuted on the Amazon Shopping App on Android in 2020. She responded to over 5.8 lakh requests to search for products, best deals, and music each day.

Alexa, the homemaker

Customers turned to voice control their smart home gadgets such as smart lights, fans, ACs, security cameras, air purifiers, TVs and more with Alexa. In 2020, customers asked Alexa to control a smart home gadget 8.6 lakh times each day.

Customers also leveraged new Alexa features related to bill payments across categories such as electricity, water, post-paid mobile, cooking gas, broadband, DTH recharges and even book a gas cylinder.

Apart from this, customers also leveraged the voice assistant to keep up with their fitness goals. Millions of customers also accessed Alexa on a variety of smart devices besides Echo smart speakers. These include headphones, smart speakers, fitness trackers, vacuum cleaners, Smart TVs and laptops, among others.

On the occasion of the virtual assistant’s third anniversary, starting 12 midnight on February 15, for 24 hours sellers on Amazon India will have a range of offers on best-selling Echo Devices, smart home bundles, etc. Customers can also shop from the curation of smart-home accessories from some of India’s biggest consumer electronic brands, Amazon said.