Google-Walmart teams up to give a jolt to Amazon dominance
World’s biggest tech giant, Google, and world’s largest retail group, Walmart, has now agreed to get together and are teaming up to challenge Amazon’s growing dominance in the online sector. Shoppers, at least for now, in the United States can able to choose from hundreds of thousands of Walmart products through the Google Express website, mobile app or voice-activated Google Home.
Walmart has also joined with major retailers which include Whole Foods Market, Costco, Bath & Beyond, and Bed that is a part of Google’s shopping and delivery service.
Executives from Walmart say the retailer will have more items available than any other on Google Express and offer a personalized version of the service by linking their Walmart account to Google Express. The service can then quickly locate the brand, size, and amount of a household good — from shampoo to toilet paper —that the customer previously bought, or make suggestions based on those past purchases.
Marc Lore, CEO of Walmart U.S. eCommerce, says this is the first time the company’s customers will be able to order on Google Home.
“I think this is really about trying to find an opportunity to simplify people’s lives and help them shop in a way that maybe they’d not yet imagined,” said Lore.
The Google-Walmart combination will surely to ramp up the rivalry against Amazon. Walmart is already in leverage its hundreds of stores to enable shoppers to pick up items they’ve bought online.
The pairing with Walmart also represents a shot across Amazon’s bow by Google, as more and more people bypass the search engine to start their browsing on the e-commerce site instead.