Amazon.com (NASDAQ:AMZN) won the initial phase of the smart-assistant war. Although Alphabet (NASDAQ:GOOGL, NASDAQ:GOOG) countered with its 2016 launch of a smart speaker called Google Home, owners of GOOG stock knew that Amazon’s Echo already held a huge lead.

Despite the fact that Alphabet is still a distant second in this struggle, it isn’t conceding, nor should it. There’s room for an alternative — or several alternatives — within the smart-assistant market, even if the leader is miles ahead of its rivals. Indeed, Amazon would be wise to take note of data recently compiled by Strategic Analytics, which indicates that Alphabet is now taking smart-speaker market share away from the e-commerce giant.

Amazon Is Losing Ground to GOOG

During the second quarter of this year, 28% of digital assistant shipments were made by  Google, up from 16% in the same period of 2017. Conversely, Amazon’s share of shipments fell from 76% a year earlier to only 44% last quarter.

But there is a footnote. Specifically, a huge sliver of the digital assistants shipped by Google was the lower-cost Google Mini. Likewise, Amazon’s Echo Dot also outsold its bigger and more capable iteration, the Echo, in Q2. Consumers are clearly cost-conscious when it comes to these devices, and it’s likely that in many cases the lower-priced products serve as a second digital assistant in homes.

Other companies that sold a significant number of digital assistants last quarter include Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL), whose Home Pod debuted early this year, and a handful of Chinese companies. The Chinese companies’ products are compelling, but not yet disruptive.

The Q2 sales data proves one thing: Amazon doesn’t have a firm grip on the smart-speaker market. But does it really matter?

Smart Speakers Will be Lucrative Because Consumers Have Changed

According to research firm MarketsandMarkets, the smart-speaker market will be worth $11.8 billion by 2023. The firm’s estimate is roughly in-line with other forecasts.

The thinking of consumer technology giants has certainly evolved in recent years, partly because technological capabilities have changed, but also because consumers have changed. Not too long ago, ordering groceries online for home delivery was unusual. Now it has become the new normal for many. It has also become easier to do.

Simultaneously, the advent of Netflix (NASDAQ:NFLX) has normalized the idea of subscriptions to digital services, and office productivity software from Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) is now rented as easily as it is outright purchased. In other words, consumers have become more comfortable putting expenditures on autopilot.

These and other tech-based trends have given rise to a new battleground. No longer are tech giants only fighting for consumers’ attention on desktops and phones; they’re also fighting for the attention of consumers who are sitting in their living rooms without those devices. The trick has been finding ways to eliminate any barriers that might stand in the way of connecting with those consumers.

Both Alphabet and Amazon have certainly achieved that goal. Simply by saying the word “Alexa” or “Hey Google,” consumers can access devices that can meet many of their needs. Many of those solutions also ultimately generate revenue for the company that made them.

To that end, Amazon shareholders certainly have more to gain from digital assistants than owners of GOOG stock do. Amazon sells practically everything and also offers a myriad of services. Alphabet’s business and the success of Alphabet stock, meanwhile, are still predominantly based on search and advertising.

That is changing though. Google and Walmart (NYSE:WMT) teamed up last year to provide a relatively seamless voice-activated shopping feature that can be accessed through Google Home. Similar partnerships are in the works, representing opportunities for Google and GOOG stock and creating clear threats to Amazon.

The Devices Aren’t the End Game

Selling smart speakers isn’t the end game. It’s a means to the end. Large amounts of revenue will be generated not by the sale of the devices themselves, but through the many ways in which they can be monetized, including via the collection of information about consumers’ shopping habits.

OC&C Strategy Consultants estimates that digital assistants will generate $40 billion worth of retail sales by 2022, and Consumer Intelligence Research Partners has estimated that owners of Amazon Echo devices spend 66% more per year on Amazon.com than non-Echo consumers. Echo owners even spend more than Prime members do, on average.

Users of Google’s Home device will also spend freely, if the process is simple enough.

Bottom Line for GOOG Stock

It’s a dynamic that still doesn’t play exactly into the hand Alphabet is holding, in that it doesn’t directly sell anything. Rather, GOOG is a middleman, as it collects a few cents for connecting buyers with sellers.

Nevertheless, given how price-competitive retailing has become since the internet has empowered shoppers with information, being a middleman may well prove to be more lucrative.

Google still accounts for the vast majority of web searches, mobile or otherwise, putting it in the perfect position to benefit from the looming explosion of voice-activated spending. Those consumers will need a way to find the right product and won’t necessarily care where it comes from.

Meanwhile, although Amazon has sold many more digital assistants than Google, the gap is closing, creating a paradigm shift that owners of GOOG stock will want to keep track of.

As of this writing, James Brumley did not hold a position in any of the aforementioned securities. You can follow him on Twitter, at @jbrumley.