Google And Walmart Partner Up To Offer Voice-Enabled Shopping
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In a move indicating their readiness to compete in online commerce with the tech giant, Google and Walmart are teaming up against Amazon. With a touch of a button (or perhaps more specifically, using your voice), users can shop from retailer company Walmart using Google Assistant on voice-activated devices such as Google Home, the company’s smart speaker contender for the Amazon Echo.
Users can also shop from the Google Express website or app, Google’s shopping marketplace, wherein Walmart joins other partner retailers, including Costco, Whole Foods Market and Walgreens. Using Walmart’s Easy Reorder feature, users could also link their Walmart account to Google Home, and receive product suggestions by previously voice-ordered products made on Walmart. Along with this, Google Express is forgoing its membership fees, and if the item is over US$35 (Walmart’s minimum), it would be offering free delivery- a stark difference to its previous $10 monthly and $95 yearly membership.
As Walmart previously handled its own e-commerce, the partnership marks Walmart’s first foray to adopting voice control tech to their e-commerce strategy. With its website selling 67 million dollars, compared to Amazon’s hundreds of millions of items, it can be a strong contender to the latter. For Google, it marks an avenue for new consumers who forgo searching for items on the search engine tool, but on Walmart’s site instead. Next up, the companies plan to offer support in letting users buy groceries ordered through voice wherein users can either pick up the bagged items or have it delivered, as well as more possibilities for its system to get smarter by learning more about users’ shopping preferences. Ok Google, let the online shopping battle begin!
Related: Amazon Makes Grocery Shopping Smarter With Alexa-Powered Dash Wand
In a move indicating their readiness to compete in online commerce with the tech giant, Google and Walmart are teaming up against Amazon. With a touch of a button (or perhaps more specifically, using your voice), users can shop from retailer company Walmart using Google Assistant on voice-activated devices such as Google Home, the company’s smart speaker contender for the Amazon Echo.
Users can also shop from the Google Express website or app, Google’s shopping marketplace, wherein Walmart joins other partner retailers, including Costco, Whole Foods Market and Walgreens. Using Walmart’s Easy Reorder feature, users could also link their Walmart account to Google Home, and receive product suggestions by previously voice-ordered products made on Walmart. Along with this, Google Express is forgoing its membership fees, and if the item is over US$35 (Walmart’s minimum), it would be offering free delivery- a stark difference to its previous $10 monthly and $95 yearly membership.
As Walmart previously handled its own e-commerce, the partnership marks Walmart’s first foray to adopting voice control tech to their e-commerce strategy. With its website selling 67 million dollars, compared to Amazon’s hundreds of millions of items, it can be a strong contender to the latter. For Google, it marks an avenue for new consumers who forgo searching for items on the search engine tool, but on Walmart’s site instead. Next up, the companies plan to offer support in letting users buy groceries ordered through voice wherein users can either pick up the bagged items or have it delivered, as well as more possibilities for its system to get smarter by learning more about users’ shopping preferences. Ok Google, let the online shopping battle begin!
