French grocery giant Carrefour confirmed yesterday that from next year its groceries would be available on the US search engine Google’s new dedicated shopping site in France, or through Google-operated systems such as connected speakers and voice-assisted devices.
The tie-up comes amid a broader shake-up in France’s competitive grocery retail market as retailers invest in online platforms and home delivery services.
Casino’s upmarket Monoprix chain in March became the first French retailer to agree to sell products on Amazon. Casino also has a home delivery partnership with UK online retailer Ocado, which in turn recently signed a deal with US supermarket group Kroger.
Google, meanwhile, has been pushing to roll out new shopping services to retailers such as Walmart, enabling them to list products on a special shopping site or Google Assistant on mobile phones and voice devices.
The company hopes the initiative will allow retailers to capture more purchases on mobile phones or smart home devices. The Carrefour deal marks the first partnership in France.
The companies said in a statement that they would open an innovation lab in Paris this summer, in partnership with Google Cloud, for research into artificial intelligence that can be used in consumer services.
Google will also roll out its G Suite productivity tools - where it rivals Microsoft Office - to the entire Carrefour group and its 160,000 employees, the companies said.
"I would like to thank the Google teams, both in France and the United States for this strategic partnership for our two groups. This alliance makes Carrefour the first partner of Google on grocery e-commerce in Europe, creating a strong bond between the two companies. It also marks an important step in the new story written by Carrefour since the announcement of the Carrefour 2022 plan. It allows us to accelerate our digital evolution and get a head start in deploying the omni-channel approach we want to offer our customers," said Alexandre Bompard, CEO of Carrefour.
"Shoppers today are saddled with disconnected experiences through the shopping journey, which often lead to abandoned shopping carts and low customer satisfaction and loyalty. Customers want assistive, simple and personalised experiences that help them make decisions on what to buy, assist with easily building baskets across surfaces, and provide a seamless checkout. With Alexandre Bompard and his team, we wanted to explore new distribution models and e-commerce technologies to deliver simple, frictionless and deeply relevant experiences for shoppers in France. I’m happy we’re contributing to Carrefour’s digital transformation through the deployment Google Cloud Platform and G Suite's collaboration tools,” said Sébastien Missoffe, VP and Managing Director of Google France.
RPA Perspective By 2019, Carrefour groceries will be available through Google products such as its Home voice-controlled speaker and Assistant digital helper. The initiative marks the first time in France that groceries will be sold through Google’s interfaces, Carrefour’s head of digital transformation, Marie Cheval said as he affirmed that this was the strongest statement yet of the company’s repositioning.
Carrefour is the first retailer in France to partner with Google, which in March launched its Shopping Actions programme that allows customers to shop for products on the Google Assistant and search with a universal cart across their mobile, desktop and Google Home devices.
Google has previously teamed up with US retailers Walmart and Target on voice-based shopping, which lets customers buy from their websites through the Google Express app or by placing a voice order with the help of the Google Assistant.
This partnership is the highest-profile move yet by Alexandre Bompard, who joined Carrefour as chief executive in July 2017. When he came on board, Bompard vowed to improve the company’s e-commerce investments while also pledging to reduce France’s dependence on suburban big box retailers.
