Just do your shopping with your voice. This is the party noted by the American digital giant Google and the French distribution group Carrefour who presented this Tuesday a new joint online shopping service via voice assistant. A branch of e-commerce still relatively underdeveloped despite the predictions of a few years ago.
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According to the two partners, the service, accessible since Tuesday, is a "world first" by allowing the user to do the entire online purchasing process in a dialogue with his voice assistant, from the creation of the list of errands until payment and the determination of the delivery method (at home or in "drive" ). The service is one of the fruits of the partnership announced two years ago by the two groups, one of which - Carrefour - wants to accelerate its digital transformation and the other - Google - wants to develop around the food trade.
Via the Google Carrefour service, users have the possibility of telling the voice assistant the products they want, including in a generic way ( "milk" , "apples" ...) By dialoguing with the 'user, the assistant draws up the list according to the consumer's usual preferences (brands usually chosen, organic or not, etc.) The list is then automatically transferred to the Carrefour site for ordering and payment.
Other large distributors already use Google's voice assistant, such as Intermarché or Leclerc for example. But according to Google and Carrefour, the services offered are less complete, in particular on the assistant's ability to choose the right reference according to usual preferences.
Protected data, Carrefour says
To make the voice assistant “intelligent” in its dialogue with the user, Carrefour gives access to Google to the user's past purchases in its stores. "This data" from Carrefour "will only be used to allow the service to operate" , assured during a press conference call François Loviton, Retail director (distribution services) of Google France and Amélie Oudéa-Castera, director e - Carrefour business. They "will not be used for advertising targeting , " said the former in particular.
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Electronic commerce via voice assistant was promised a bright future two years ago, when connected speakers exploded, including Amazon Echo and Google Home, recalls Yves Marin, partner at Bartle Business Consulting. "All the experts were betting on a spectacular development but that did not happen," he said. Users of connected speakers "are staying for now very basic, ad hoc uses, such as asking the weather" or information on shows, he added. The new Google / Carrefour service "is basically a second chance" for commerce by voice assistant, by bringing "new functionalities to appeal to the consumer" , he underlines.