Google and Walmart announced a joint venture Wednesday, in which customers can buy Walmart products on Google platforms.
Aug. 23 (UPI) — Google and Walmart announced a joint venture Wednesday, in which customers can buy Walmart products on Google’s voice-activated Home Assistant and Express service.
Walmart said the partnered service will officially start in late September. Prior to the venture, the retailer’s inventory was only available through the company’s website.
In the partnership, Walmart customers will be able to purchase products via the Google Express retailing service website or app. Customers will also be able to make purchases with their voice through the Google Assistant app or voice-activated Google Home speaker.
“When it comes to voice shopping, we want to make it as easy as possible for our customers. That’s why it makes sense for us to team up with Google, ” Walmart President and CEO Marc Lore said in a statement Wednesday. “They’ve made significant investments in natural language processing and artificial intelligence to deliver a powerful voice shopping experience.”
Lore said Walmart customers will be able to easily re-purchase products through the Easy Reorder feature on Google Express.
“We’re thrilled to partner with one of the most popular stores in America to help make your shopping faster and easier, ” Sridhar Ramaswamy, Google senior vice president of ads and commerce, said in a statement .
Google also announced it was no longer requiring a $95 annual membership fee for Express and that it would offer free delivery on orders above a minimum requirement.
The partnership between Walmart and Google will attempt to compete with Amazon’s dominance of the electronic commerce market.
