Report: Wal-Mart and Google Partner with ‘Eye on Amazon’

Wal-Mart has announced that they will be joining Google’s online shopping platform Google Express, purportedly with an eye towards Amazon, according to a report.

“Google and Wal-Mart Stores Inc. are joining forces in a partnership that includes enabling voice-ordered purchases from the retail giant on Google’s virtual assistant, challenging rival Amazon.com Inc.’s grip on the next wave of e-commerce,” reported The Wall Street Journal on Wednesday. “While the deal will add hundreds of thousands of Wal-Mart items to Google Express, it will also give Wal-Mart access to voice ordering.”

“The deal won’t alter how consumers receive their orders, because Wal-Mart will fulfill purchases made through Google Express,” the report explains.

“Consumers will be able to order Wal-Mart goods from the retailer’s stores by speaking to Google’s virtual assistant, which sits in phones, Google’s voice-controlled speakers and soon other devices,” they continued. “Wal-Mart said it will share consumers’ purchase history with Google to enable users to quickly reorder items, a primary function of voice-controlled orders for commodity shopping.”

In their report, The New York Times claimed Google and Wal-Mart are keeping an “eye on Amazon,” adding that they’re “testing the notion that an enemy’s enemy is a friend.”

Charlie Nash is a reporter for Breitbart Tech. You can follow him on Twitter @MrNashington and Gab @Nash, or like his page at Facebook.