Italian retailer Esselunga has teamed up with Google to enable its shoppers to order their shopping directly through the Google Assistant service, available through Google Home speakers and other compatible devices.
Consumers need to simply utter the phrase 'OK, Google – parla con Esselunga' ('OK, Google – talk to Esselunga'), and the virtual assistant starts taking down a user's shopping list.
Those using the system can also identify products via brand name or category, outline how much of a particular product they desire (in the case of bulk or loose items), and also find out what products have already been added to their shopping list.
Esselunga describes the service as an 'important step in making shopping, both in store and online, more practical, fast and personalised'.
The retailer plans to unveil an extended range of services using Google Assistant in the near future.
In August, French retailer E. Leclerc announced that it was offering shopping services via Google Assistant, while, in the Netherlands, both Albert Heijn and Jumbo have introduced the service.
© 2018 European Supermarket Magazine – your source for the latest retail news. Article by Stephen Wynne-Jones. Click subscribe to sign up to ESM: European Supermarket Magazine.
