Wal-Mart Stores, Inc (NYSE:WMT) and Alphabet Inc’s (NYSE:GOOG) Google are teaming up as they look to challenge Amazon Inc’s (NYSE:AMZN) e-commerce dominance.
From September, US consumers will be able to buy products from Wal-Mart just by using the Google Assistant platform found on Android phones and home devices.
Amazon already has a similar service where customers can order products from its large inventory through its Alexa virtual assistant.
Wal-Mart customers will also be able to link their accounts to Google, allowing the tech giant to learn their shopping habits and better predict what they might want in the future
It’s part of Wal-Mart’s plans to expand its offering as bricks-and-mortar stores come under more pressure from online shopping.
It will be the first time that the world’s biggest retailer has made its products available anywhere else but its own website.
In a blog post, Wal-Mart’s head of e-commerce, Marc Lore, said that the company plans to expand the use of voice-activated across its 4,700 stores in order to “create customer experiences that don’t currently exist within voice shopping anywhere else”.
There’s also something in it for Google too, which is seeing more and more people use Amazon as their go-to shopping search engine.
Walmart shares gained 0.4% in early deals on Wednesday to US$80.34.