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BUSINESS Thursday 24 augusT 2017
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Walmart joins forces with Google on voice-activated shopping

By A. D’INNOCENZIO ing out this year. Walmart panding store-curb pickup Express is scrapping the up the landscape. Whole
AP Retail Writer has said Google’s invest- for groceries ordered on- $95-a-year membership Foods shareholders voted
NEW YORK (AP) — Walmart ment in natural language line. But it’s also had to starting Wednesday, allow- Wednesday to approve
is diving into voice-activat- processing and artificial look beyond itself and form ing shoppers to get free the Amazon bid.
ed shopping. But unlike on- intelligence will help make partnerships. Walmart an- delivery within one to three Walmart says it will be tap-
line leader Amazon, it’s not voice-activated shopping nounced Monday that it’s days on orders as long ping its 4,700 U.S. stores and
doing it alone. more popular. expanding its grocery deliv- as the purchase is above its fulfillment network next
The world’s largest retailer And Lore said the person- ery service with ride-hailing each store’s minimum. year to offer more kinds of
said Wednesday it’s work- alization of the partnership service Uber, and it’s been Walmart is integrating its customer experiences us-
ing with Google to offer means people can shout testing same-day delivery Easy Reorder feature — ing voice shopping. For
hundreds of thousands of out generic items like milk, service with Deliv at Sam’s which has data on both example, shoppers can
items from laundry deter- bread and cheese, and Club in Miami. store and online purchas- tell Google Assistant they
gent to Legos for voice Google Assistant will know Amazon generally has es — into Google Express. want to pick up an order
shopping through Google exactly the brands and the been building its network Shoppers who want to re- in a store. Lore said the
Assistant. The capability will size that the user wants. of services on its own, using order their favorites have to company wants to make
be available in late Sep- Google introduced shop- its $99-a-year Prime mem- link their Walmart account voice shopping as easy as
tember. ping to Home in February, bership with same-day and to Google Express. possible, and “that’s why it
It’s Google’s biggest retail letting people use voice to even one-hour shipping With other Google Express makes sense for us to team
partnership — and the most order essentials from more options to develop loyalty. retailers, personalization up with Google.”
personalized shopping ex- than 40 retailers like Tar- It’s also been drawing in takes time as the assistant Internet analyst Sucharita
perience it offers — as it get and Costco under its customers with its Alexa de- learns shoppers’ preferenc- Mulpuru-Kodali praised the
tries to broaden the reach Google Express program. vices. Amazon doesn’t give es, says Brian Elliott, gen- partnership, but believes
of its voice-activated as- voice-ordering is still in its
sistant Home speaker. And In this June 5, 2017 photo, a shopper looks at merchandise at a Walmart in Salem, N.H. Walmart nascent stages and not
it underscores Walmart’s said Wednesday it’s working with Google to offer hundreds of thousands of items from laundry likely to drive a lot of busi-
drive to compete in an detergent to Legos for voice shopping through Google Assistant. (AP Photo/Elise Amendola) ness in the short term.
area dominated by Ama- “I like that Walmart and
zon’s Alexa-powered Echo But that was far behind the sales figures for Echo, but eral manager of Google Google are partnering,”
device. “Voice shopping is Echo, available since late Consumer Intelligence Re- Express. So the quick per- she said. “That is the sort of
becoming a more impor- 2014. search Partners estimated sonalization with Walmart complementary relation-
tant part of everyday shop- Walmart, which has more that it’s sold more than 10 should make voice-activat- ship that Walmart needs to
ping behavior,” said Marc stores than any other retail- million Echo devices in the ed shopping more attrac- have any hope in winning in
Lore, CEO of Walmart’s U.S. er and the largest share of U.S. since late 2014. That in- tive, he says. online retail.” She believes
e-commerce business. the U.S. grocery market, is cludes the core $179 Echo While one of Walmart’s relatively few people have
The voice-activated de- also working hard to close as well as the less expen- biggest advantages over even tried voice ordering
vices are becoming more the gulf online between it- sive and smaller Echo Dot Amazon is its massive num- for e-commerce, though,
mainstream as they be- self and Amazon. and the portable Amazon ber of stores, Amazon’s and beyond being early it’s
come more accessible. It has overhauled its ship- Tap. To be more competi- nearly $14 billion offer for “quite an imperfect experi-
Even Apple has one com- ping strategy and is ex- tive with Amazon, Google Whole Foods could shake ence at that.”q

Whole Foods shareholders say yes to Amazon deal

NEW YORK (AP) — Whole more supermarkets offered came about after a “whirl-
Foods shareholders voted similar organic and natural wind courtship” and that “it
Wednesday to bless a $13.7 foods, but at cheaper prices. was truly love at first sight.”
billion union with Amazon Amazon and Whole Foods As part of the deal, Amazon
that the organic grocery have not given many details will pay Whole Foods share-
chain’s CEO had called “love about what might change for holders $42 for each share
at first sight.” customers, though Whole they own. That was an 18 per-
That approval is one step Foods CEO John Mackey gave cent premium from its stock
required to close the deal, some general clues at a town price the day before the tie-
which is a bold move into hall with employees after the up was announced on June
physical stores for Amazon deal was announced. He said 16. Shares of Whole Foods
and has the possibility of he thought Amazon would Market Inc. were trading at
making big changes to the help with efforts on cost-cut- $41.72 on Wednesday.
supermarket industry and ting and a loyalty program. He Earlier this month, Amazon.
online grocery ordering. The In this Friday, June 16, 2017 photo, groceries from Whole Foods noted Amazon is known for com Inc. sold $16 billion of
deal also needs the go-ahead Market sit in a cart before being loaded into a car, outside a its innovation and said that bonds in order to pay for
from government regulators. store in Jackson, Miss. On Wednesday, Aug. 23, 2017, Whole company could turn Whole Whole Foods. Seattle-based
By buying Whole Foods, Ama- Foods shareholders voted to approve Amazon’s $13.7 billion Foods from “the class dunce” Amazon has said it expects
takeover bid of the organic grocer.
zon will get more than 460 (AP Photo/Rogelio V. Solis) to “valedictorian.” the deal to close before the
stores and potentially very lu- ery service with ride-hailing new life into Whole Foods, Mackey had said the deal end of the year. q
crative data about how shop- service Uber and announced which had been under intense
pers behave offline. Wednesday that it will join shareholder pressure to im-
Rivals are scrambling to catch forces with Google to let prove results and retain cus-
up with the e-commerce gi- shoppers order goods by tomers who have more choic-
ant. Walmart, for example, is voice on Google devices. es about where to get natural
expanding its grocery deliv- The deal may also breathe foods. As Whole Foods grew,