Walmart raises voice

Walmart is teaming up with Google to enter the nascent voice-shopping market — currently dominated by Amazon — adding another front to Walmart’s battle with the online megastore.

Google will offer hundreds of thousands of Walmart items on its voice-controlled Google Assistant platform from late September, said Marc Lore, Walmart’s head of e-commerce.

Lore, who joined the world’s largest retailer after it bought his e-commerce company, Jet.com, said Walmart would offer a wider selection than any retailer on the platform.

Amazon, whose voice-controlled Alexa allows users to shop from the retailer, has 72.2 percent of the US voice-controlled device market, according to eMarketer.

Amazon has also dominated Walmart and other brick-and-mortar retailers in online sales.

Walmart has begun pushing back aggressively, however, offering discounts to customers who buy online and pick up in-store, and free twoday shipping for purchases of $35 or more.

The latter move forced Amazon to lower its threshold for free shipping.

Lore said Walmart also was integrating its quick reordering tool into Google’s same-day delivery service.

Walmart shares ended the day nearly flat, at $79.96, while Google parent Alphabet gained $2.18, to $942.58, and Amazon slipped $8.90, to $958.