Wal-Mart Stores Inc. is adding another service intended to make shopping easier, announcing a partnership with Google that will give customers the ability to use their voices to order products.
The partnership between the retail and technology giants was announced late Tuesday by Wal-Mart U.S. e-commerce chief Marc Lore. Wal-Mart said it will begin offering "hundreds of thousands" of items for voice shopping through Google Assistant, a virtual personal assistant introduced last year and linked to devices like Google Home and mobile phones.
Through Google Assistant, a customer would be able to place orders based on previous purchases that were bought through Wal-Mart's Easy Reorder feature. Easy Reorder, introduced earlier this year, registers in-store and online purchases and saves them to a shopper's purchase history.
Lore said Wal-Mart has worked with Google to integrate its Easy Reorder feature into Google Express, an online marketplace that connects shoppers with stores and arranges for deliveries.
"This will enable us to deliver highly personalized shopping recommendations based on customers' previous purchases, including those made in Wal-Mart stores and on Walmart.com," Lore said in a statement announcing the partnership.
The Google-enabled service will be available beginning in late September and is a response to online retailer Amazon.com, which provides customers with voice-command shopping capability through its Alexa device. Wal-Mart said customers will need to link their Wal-Mart accounts to Google Express to be able to participate in the service.
Annibal Sodero, an assistant professor at the Sam M. Walton College of Business at the University of Arkansas, Fayetteville, believes the partnership is a good move for both Wal-Mart and Google.
"For Google, this is extremely important because now with the sheer volume Wal-Mart is going to give them, they will make their service, Google Express, much more valuable because they will have a much greater reach of consumers," Sodero said. "Wal-Mart could try to do it on their own, but they do not have the power or the ability to gather all the information that Google has, so relying on the service that's provided makes a lot of sense. ... It's the perfect marriage."
The capabilities established by the partnership will expand next year to include what Lore described as "experiences that currently don't exist within voice shopping anywhere else."
He said customers will be able to choose whether they want to pick up orders in store or have them delivered. They'll also have the ability to use voice command to purchase fresh groceries from Wal-Mart stores.
"We know this means being compared side-by-side with other retailers, and we think that's the way it should be," Lore said. "An open and transparent shopping universe is good for customers."
The partnership is another example of Wal-Mart's emphasis on developing technology that provides convenient options for shoppers who are either pressed for time or don't want to wander through stores.
Earlier this week, Wal-Mart announced it had expanded a grocery delivery service test in which customers order groceries online and have them delivered by ride-hailing service Uber. The delivery service is available in Phoenix; Tampa, Fla.; Dallas; and Orlando, Fla. Wal-Mart also is using its own vehicles to deliver groceries in San Jose, Calif., and Denver.
Wal-Mart also has rolled out its curbside grocery pickup service to more than 900 locations and has installed self-service pickup towers in more than 100 stores. The retailer is using employees to deliver packages on their way home from work shifts in a three-store pilot program. An automated grocery pickup kiosk is also being tested in Warr Acres, Okla.
"We continue our transformation to become more of a digital enterprise that moves with speed and agility," Wal-Mart Chief Executive Officer Doug McMillon said last week during the company's pre-recorded call for investors. "I'm encouraged by innovation in the business."
Under Lore, Wal-Mart also has introduced free two-day shipping on items without a subscription fee and introduced discounts on products that are ordered online and picked up in stores.
"Our new voice shopping capability ... will give our customers a compelling new way to get what they need at low prices," Lore said. "We will continue to focus on creating new opportunities to simplify people's lives and help them shop in ways they've not yet imagined."
Business on 08/23/2017