As online ordering and fresh food delivery expands around the globe, Google is angling for a stake. The Alphabet subsidiary announced a joint venture today with French chain Carrefour, making it the first retailer in France to partner with Google.
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 in an interview with Bloomberg.
According to the Financial Times, the 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.
Google gets more than a delivery deal out of the collaboration. This summer, Carrefour plans to open an innovation lab in Paris, where the retailer will rely on Google Cloud to test artificial intelligence-driven services. Carrefour will also adopt Google tools such as Gmail for its more than 160,000 employees.
Financial terms of the partnership were not disclosed.
In March, Amazon announced a partnership with Groupe Casino to sell products from Monoprix stores through Amazon Prime. In the same month, another French food retailer, Leclerc, debuted home delivery in France.