Technology giant Google and Walmart supermarket chain are teaming up to explore the online retail market, a business venture that would give clear competition to Amazon leader.
According to the two companies, Walmart plans to start selling its products through Google Express, the commercial platform developed by the leading search company in the network.
Experts believe that the association is a testament to the mutual threat that both companies face with Amazon, increasingly expanding its market share.
Amazon’s dominance in online shopping challenges suppliers such as Walmart, while the trend over buying searches is increasing more in favor of Amazon and to the detriment of Google.
However, the association of both giants does not guarantee success.
No other retailer can match the size of Amazon’s inventory, the efficiency with which it moves shoppers by browsing at the time of purchase, or its many home delivery options.
However, Google and Walmart are planning their long-term agreement, with a view to future business development, aware that the current competition with Amazon is very complex.
One of the novelties, imitating Amazon itself, is the possibility of using Google’s voice assistant to order an online purchase, something that Jeff Bezos company already does through its Echo and Alexa devices.
Walmart’s e-commerce chief Marc Lore wrote in a blog post that the distributor plans to expand the use of voice-activated stores in its 4,700 stores to “create experiences for customers that currently do not exist in voice purchases anywhere else place”.
In April, Amazon expanded its immediate delivery service, known as Prime Now, to include certain fresh food items and medications, while Walmart has now partnered with the Uber transportation application to offer online grocery deliveries in six states country.
Walmart has also challenged Amazon by offering discounts to customers who shop online and pick up products in the store, and with two-day free shipping for $ 35 or more, two strategies Amazon has been running for a while.
Meanwhile, shareholders at Whole Foods, one of the largest organic food chain in the country, will vote on Amazon’s bid to buy the food company.
Before accepting the $ 13.7 billion offer, Whole Foods had been under intense pressure from shareholders to improve results and retain its customers in a market for fresh, natural foods every time more competitive.
Today’s approval of Whole Foods shareholders is one of the steps necessary to close the deal, but they also need the approval of government regulators.
Amazon announced plans to buy Whole Foods Market Inc., based in Austin, Texas, in June.
The acquisition would give the e-commerce giant more than 460 Whole Foods stores and the possibility of making major changes to the supermarket industry and the sale of fresh produce online.
