Walmart Voice Order launches with Google Assistant

On April 2, 2019 Tom Ward, Walmart’s senior vice president of Digital Operations posted an entry on the company’s blog announcing the launch of Walmart’s voice-activated shopping service: Walmart Voice Order.    

“We continue to innovate for the future and look to technology to make great services even better in the future. With the new voice ordering capabilities, we’re building across platforms with partners like Google, we’re helping customers simply say the word to have Walmart help them shop… literally,” Ward wrote.  

Beginning in April, customers can ask the Google Assistant to add items directly to their Walmart Grocery cart by saying, “Hey Google, talk to Walmart”. Ward added that customers can be confident that the company can quickly and accurately identify items they are asking for with the help of information from prior purchases with Walmart. “The more you use it, the better we’ll get. For example, if a customer says, ‘add milk to my cart,’ we’ll make sure to add the specific milk the customer buys regularly. Instead of saying ‘one gallon of one percent Great Value organic milk,’ they’ll simply say one word: milk,” he wrote.

Google Assistant is available on more than a billion devices, including Smart Displays like Google Home Hub, Android phones, iPhones, watches and more allowing customers to manage their shopping carts while they’re at home or on the go.

“We know when using voice technology, customers like to add items to their cart one at a time over a few days – not complete their shopping for the week all at once. So, this capability aligns with the way customers shop,” Ward said in the blog.  

Ward also indicated that Walmart has begun its voice activated shopping service with Google but plans to add other services to the mix as time goes on. The service is expected to roll to more customers in coming weeks.