French retailer E.Leclerc has announced it is launching a new service on Google's voice platform, comprising its smart speaker Google Home and its smartphone software Google Assistant.
The 'mémo courses' (shopping memo) service will enable customers to add products to their online shopping list, linked to their account on the Leclerc Drive website, and will work seamlessly across the Google Home smart speaker and Google Assistant, which is already embedded in millions of smartphones equipped with the latest version of the Android operating system.
Stepping Stone
After logging in with its customer credentials on the Leclerc Drive app, the customer will have to say the following command to trigger the launch of the service "OK Google ! Je veux parler à E.Leclerc" ('OK Google, I want to talk to E.Leclerc'). The customer is then able to add products to his or her virtual shopping list.
In order to ease the shopping process, general brand identifiers will be used in tandem with the purchase history of the customer. For example, if a customer lists 'dish soap', the specific product will be of a brand that the customer has already bought previously.
For the company, the service was not only created as way to simplify the purchasing process for the customer, but also represents the first step in a more comprehensive voice-driven service that will be launched in Q1 of 2019.
A Response To Carrefour
E.Leclerc's announcement is a direct response to the recent partnership between Carrefour and Google. Carrefour is expected to roll out its voice commands for non-food products on Google Assistant and Google Home before the end of 2018 and will add food products to this service from the start of 2019.
Recently, Albert Heijn and Bol.com, both subsidiaries of Ahold Delhaize, launched services on the Dutch version of Google Assistant. Last year, Wal-Mart also announced it was partnering with Google, in a bid to fight Amazon on new platforms.
© 2018 European Supermarket Magazine – your source for the latest retail news. Article by Matthieu Chassain. Click subscribe to sign up to ESM: European Supermarket Magazine.
