Can you hear that? It's voice shopping, and it's coming to a home near you.
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Walmart and Whole Foods have a new weapon to win over customers (WMT, AMZN)
Both chains are looking for ways to make it easier for customers to buy more — and they're betting on voice shopping as the answer.
Both Walmart and Whole Foods are betting big on voice shopping as the new platform that will make it easier for customers to buy more frequently — and with larger carts full of merchandise.
Walmart recently announced a partnership with Google to be listed on the tech giant's Google Express retail platform.
Walmart and Google will integrate the retailer into Google Assistant, allowing customers to add Walmart goods to their Google Express cart with voice control. Google is even integrating the retailer's unique customer offerings, like easy reorder and the ability to remember a customer's most frequently bought items.
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To celebrate opening its 1,000th online grocery pickup store, which is part of the service expanding into Amazon's home turf of Seattle, Washington, Walmart is offering a free Google Home device to the first 250 customers who use the pickup service at any of the six new locations. At other locations, Walmart is celebrating by giving away $5 promotional codes to be used on a future order.
When Amazon purchased Whole Foods, many wondered how the organic grocer's physical stores might change. Since the deal officially closed on August 28, the chain lowered prices on some commonly bought items and added a stand of "farm fresh" Amazon Echo devices to the produce section in some stores.
Since Whole Foods' products are now available on Amazon's online grocery services — Fresh and Prime Pantry — the products are now also available to order with voice. Time will tell if Amazon offers special functionality to order items sold from the grocery store chain it owns.
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