Walmart, Google Join Forces In Online Retailing Fight Against Amazon

Excerpts from an article by Scott Neuman in NPR

With an eye on the future of online retailing, Walmart and Google are teaming up to go after rival Amazon in a play that also targets the growing market for voice-activated shopping.

Starting next month, Walmart customers will be able to access hundreds of thousands of products from the company’s shelves — everything from dishwashing soap to dining tables — via the online retailing service Google Express. Until now, Walmart’s enormous inventory was available online only through the company’s own website.

Walmart customers will be able to place an order by simply saying it out loud, using either the Google Assistant app or the voice-activated speaker Google Home.

Voice-enabled shopping is still in its infancy, but analysts say it is a rapidly growing piece of the pie.

“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,” Marc Lore, the president and CEO of Walmart U.S. eCommerce, writes in a blog post Wednesday.

Walmart and Amazon have gone head-to-head for customers in a battle that has pitted the biggest bricks-and-mortar retailer against the largest online one. In the tit-for-tat competition for customers, Walmart is moving to establish a stronger e-commerce presence and Amazon is aiming to capture a bigger chunk of Walmart’s lower-income customer base.

Check out the full article on NPR

For more on online retailing, read our free guide: 5 Key Customer Retention Strategies for Retail.

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