Carrefour and Google Partner in France
PARIS, FRANCE - Another tech player has entered into the metaphorical grocery arena. Google today announced a joint venture with French retail chain Carrefour, in a move to sell groceries online to French shoppers. By early 2019, these shoppers will be able to buy Carrefour’s products through Google platforms such as Google Home, or via the Google Assistant on their mobile phone, or on the Web through the new Google shopping destination in France. Items will then be delivered to their homes or available for pick up in-store.
"I would like to thank the Google teams, both in France and the United States for this strategic partnership for our two groups,” said Carrefour CEO Alexandre Bompard in a recent press release. “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.”
In addition to offering shoppers online grocery services, Google and Carrefour will be opening an innovation lab in Paris this summer, where Carrefour engineers will work side-by-side with Google Cloud AI experts to learn about creating new consumer experiences.
"Shoppers today are saddled with disconnected experiences through the shopping journey, which often lead to abandoned shopping carts and low customer satisfaction and loyalty," said Sébastien Missoffe, VP and Managing Director of Google France. "Customers want assistive, simple, and personalized 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."
As Fortune reported, when Alexandre Bompard came on board, he vowed to improve the company’s e-commerce investments while pledging to reduce France’s dependence on suburban big box retailers. In a telephone interview with Bloomberg, Marie Cheval, Carrefour’s Head of Digital Transformation, said that this deal was a “transformative measure” in the company’s step to becoming an e-commerce leader in France.
Carrefour will also adopt Google tools such as Gmail for more than 160,000 of its staff, the retailer said in its press release. The tech company will provide digital training for more than 1,000 employees over the next six months to help prepare for the switch.
Will this venture into the online grocery market pay off for Google? AndNowUKnow will keep you updated with the latest.
