Carrefour announced integrating Google Assistant’s voice-based shopping service with its eCommerce website claiming bragging rights to be the first retailer in the world to integrate with Google Assistant. Carrefour stated the feature jointly developed with Google has three innovations.
Based on a combination of advanced technologies, the French multinational retailer noted the innovative service simplifies and personalizes the grocery shopping experience.
Here is how it works:
With the Google Assistant, Carrefour customers can add to the shopping list by using voice commands with common words such as butter, milk and cheese.
Integrated with the retailer’s eCommerce inventory, the shopping list is converted into a cart of products on carrefour.fr website. The user is free to modify or delete or add products as necessary.
With the shopping cart confirmed on the Google Assistant, the customer can move to the retailer’s website to finalise the purchase and of course, choose a delivery method as well.
Carrefour stated the feature builds on the digital integration between the partners and leverages advances in voice recognition and artificial intelligence. The service is expected to evolve further aiming to simplify the shopping experience.
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Other Innovators
Amazon recently launched its retail offering JustWalkOut. The retail technology offering leverages the latest from Amazon’s GO experience and innovations.
American retailer CIBO Express Gourmet Market became the first retailer to launch a JustWalkOut store in the world.
Shoppers will be able to enter the store using a credit card, grab their items and walk out, maximising speed and convenience. Unlike its app-enabled Amazon Go stores, shoppers have to swipe a credit card on entry.
India based eCommerce leader Flipkart recently launched its home-grown voice feature in Indian languages. The feature is aimed at helping consumers place orders in different Indian languages.
Although digital assistants from Big Tech have found buyers in the growing Indian market, the penetration is nowhere near the true potential due to the language challenges. The Walmart-owned company became the first in the fast-growing Indian eCommerce market to introduce voice-enabled shopping feature.
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In Australia, Melbourne based National Australia Bank recently announced leveraging Nuance’s VoiceID biometrics to improve customer experience calling its contact centres. NAB revealed the users would be given an option to register their voice ID and use that for future calls.
A recent survey by leading BPM player Appdynamics revealed digital transformation initiatives which took months and years to approve in the pre-pandemic days have been approved within days amid the pandemic.
With COVID impact leading to a tectonic shift towards online, the digitisation of services has led to retailers pushing ahead with digital transformation initiatives.
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