It is now possible for Google Express subscribers to do their Walmart shopping via Google Home smart speakers. This development is set to rival Amazon’s Alexa-powered Echo shopping capabilities, in a fresh, online shopping battle of wits.

In concert with Google Express, Walmart will offer a broad range of products to those who shop at Costco and Target. The plan looks more like an attempt to cut into Amazon dominance at the moment. Part of the attraction to the shopper is the Pickup Discount introduced by the Walmart-Google Home alliance. This online shopping front means that customers will no longer have to pay monthly charges for express.

Customers, who use WalMart on a routine basis, can now take advantage of ‘Easy Reorder’ to build-up a list of pre-purchased goods from the store to ease their ordering process. The Walmart voice shopping for groceries will kick-start next month. Online shopping is becoming easier, but Amazon must be alert on this Google Home initiative.

Supporting data for e-commerce

About 56% and 67% of Gen Xers and Millennials respectively, prefer online shopping to in-store purchases. For Seniors and Baby Boomers, only about 28% and 41% respectively, will click to buy. In comparison with their older folks, Gen Xers and Millennials spend 50% more time each week while shopping online. All these stats are attractive to the Walmart-Google Home alliance, and Amazon knows it.

The surge and plunge of Walmart

Sears enjoyed a run of dominance in the retail segment for decades with no close rival to give them a fight. That changed with the advent of Walmart in the year 1962. Walmart outclassed Sears to become the largest retail service in the world, following many years of paying rapt attention to logistics and expenses reduction.

Amazon and online shopping were years away from reality, at this time. The Google Home alliance knows this historical fact.

Walmart’s revenue as at 2001, was five times more than Sears’. However, the birth of Amazon changed everything for Sears, as consumers began to prefer online shopping to native shopping. While Walmart did not immediately feel the impact of Amazon, all that changed in 2016.

The company had to lay off 7,000 workers in September 2016, and this was inevitable. This gave Google Home the opening for this deal.

The rise of Amazon

In a bid to satisfy customers, online shopping giants such as Amazon have had to construct warehouses and other infrastructure. This step will, of course, require hiring in numbers, but, on a temporal basis.The Walmart-Google Home alliance will side-step this as a result of Walmart's existing brick and mortar.

In recent developments, e-commerce warehouses are more sophisticated; leading to fewer human tasks and a reduced workforce. As pleasant as this may seem, it is only expected that the online shopping support services and back office requirements will lead to rising job numbers. Amazon has ramped up hiring, and it is likely that the Walmart-Google Home alliance will do the same.
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