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Come September, Walmart shoppers can voice-shop on Google

new york - Google is trying to broaden the reach of its voice-powered assistant Home speaker

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Walmart is diving into voice-activated shopping. But unlike online leader Amazon, it's not doing it alone.

The world's largest retailer said on Wednesday it's working with Google to offer hundreds of thousands of items from laundry detergent to Legos for voice shopping through Google Assistant. The capability will be available in late September.

It's Google's biggest retail partnership - and the most personalised shopping experience it offers - as it tries to broaden the reach of its voice-powered assistant Home speaker. And it underscores Walmart's drive to compete in an area dominated by Amazon's Alexa-powered Echo device.

"Voice shopping is becoming a more important part of everyday shopping behaviour," said Marc Lore, CEO of Walmart's US e-commerce business.

The voice-activated devices are becoming more mainstream as they become more accessible. Even Apple has one coming out this year. Walmart has said Google's investment in natural language processing and artificial intelligence will help make voice-activated shopping even more popular.

Personalisation
And Lore said the personalisation of the partnership means people can shout out generic items such as milk, bread and cheese, and Google Assistant will know exactly the brands and the size that the user wants.

Google introduced shopping to Home in February, letting people use voice to order essentials from more than 40 retailers such as Target and Costco under its Google Express program. But that was far behind the Echo, available since late 2014.

Walmart, which has more stores than any other retailer and the largest share of the US grocery market, is also working hard to close the gulf online between itself and Amazon.

It has overhauled its shipping strategy and is expanding store-curb pickup for groceries ordered online. But it's also had to look beyond itself and form partnerships. Walmart announced on Monday that it's expanding its grocery delivery service with ride-hailing service Uber, and it's been testing same-day delivery service with Deliv at Sam's Club in Miami.

Amazon generally has been building its network of services on its own, using its $99-a-year Prime membership with same-day and even one-hour shipping options to develop loyalty.

It's also been drawing in customers with its Alexa-powered devices. Amazon doesn't give sales figures for Echo, but Consumer Intelligence Research Partners estimated that it's sold more than 10 million Alexa-powered Echo devices in the US since late 2014. That includes the core $179 Echo as well as the less expensive and smaller Echo Dot and the portable Amazon Tap.

To be more competitive with Amazon, Google Express is scrapping the $95-a-year membership starting Wednesday, allowing shoppers to get free delivery within one to three days on orders as long as the purchase is above each store's minimum.

Walmart is integrating its Easy Reorder feature - which has data on both store and online purchases - into Google Express. Shoppers who want to reorder their favourites have to link their Walmart account to Google Express.

With other Google Express retailers, personalisation takes time as the assistant learns shoppers' preferences, says Brian Elliott, general manager of Google Express. So the quick personalisation with Walmart should make voice-activated shopping more attractive, he says. - AP