Walmart partners with Google on voice-activated shopping

Walmartand Google are teaming up against a common enemy: Amazon's dominance in voice-activated shopping.

The world's largest retailer said Wednesday it's working with Google to offer hundreds of thousands of items that consumers can order by talking to theirGoogle Assistant via a smart speaker or other Android-powered mobile device such as a smartphone.

Under the plan, Walmart will make available thousands of its products with GoogleExpress, the search giant's e-commerce platform.

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As of next month, any U.S. residentswith aGoogleHome smart speaker or who areaGoogleExpress customer via thewebsiteor app will be able to order a wide selection ofWalmartproducts and have them shipped quickly and free of charge to either their home, or in some cases a nearbyWalmart.

The system will be smart enough to buy specific brands of items consumers havepurchased before without too much added effort. "If you order Tide ... or Gatorade," Googlesaid of the service, "your Google Assistant will let you know which size and type you previously ordered from Walmart, making it easy for you to buy the right product again."

"This will enable us to deliver highly personalized shopping recommendations based on customers' previous purchases, including those made in Walmart stores and on Walmart.com,"said Marc Lore, president and CEO ofWalmart'se-commerce unit.

The collaboration won't be available in Canada at first, but that may change if it's deemed a success in the U.S. and if Google Home speakers get any traction in the Canadian marketplace.

Fight for consumer loyalty

The Google Express market already works with other retailers, but the link-up with Walmart is a major step as Googletries to fight back against Amazon's dominance in leveraging its online dominance into controlling how and what we buy in the real world.

Amazon's Alexa-powered Echo device has a similar feature where consumers can order millions of products simply by speaking to it. Amazon has a leg up in the space not only because it was first to market the idea of using virtual assistants to help users buy things, but because it is starting to own its own line of Amazon products, known as Amazon Basics, and can push consumers to order its products instead of name brands and therefore control all parts of the transaction.

"Consideringthe data they have built up about their customers," said Neil Bearse, director of marketing at Smith School of Business at Queen's University in Kingston, Ont., in an interview, "it's a tough head start to catch up with."

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Both Google and Walmarthaven't been key players in the space, which is why they are teaming up now to fight a common enemy before it's too late, Bearse said.

"This isn't about how we buy things today it's more a play for the future," Bearse said.

While technology companies have big plans for the devices, thus far consumers mainly use them for simple tasks such as playing music, looking up things online, or making phone calls.

"We're still in early days, but shopping isn't yet one of the big uses of the devices," Victoria Petrock, principal analyst at research firm eMarketer, said. "Obstacles to people using the devices to shop are cost and privacy. A little more than six in 10 people are concerned that these virtual assistants are spying on them."

Once untouchable in retail, Walmart is currently fighting a two-front war against conventional retail rivals, but also Amazon, whichhas encroached on the company's dominance in buying basic household goods.

Amazon is taking the fight to Walmart's front door by trying to take over bricks and mortar grocery store Whole Foods recently, and the partnership with Googlein the digital space is another front in the all out war for consumer dollars.

"They're going head to head," Bearse said, "physically and digitally."