Google and Walmart are joining forces to take on Amazon

• Dennis Green
 

• 4h
• 13,724

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Google and Walmart are teaming up to take on Amazon's Prime shipping service.

Starting in September, Google's commerce platform, Google Express, will count America's largest retailer among its list of vendors, the company announced Wednesday.

Customers will be able to place orders with Walmart at Express.google.com, on the Google Express app, or through Google Assistant-enabled devices like Google Home.

Walmart will be the largest vendor on the platform when it joins.

The coming integration with Walmart is expected to go deeper than that with any current Express retailer — Google's head of commerce, Sridhar Ramaswamy, called the partnership "the first of its kind."

Ramaswamy said customers could link their Walmart and Google accounts, allowing integrated features like a shortcut to reorder items frequently bought from Walmart through the Google Assistant voice software.

Telling a Google Assistant to "add paper towels" to your cart, for instance, would add your most frequently purchased size and brand of paper towels. Walmart also plans to allow customers to pick up purchases in-store for a discount.

The partnership puts Walmart further in competition with Amazon, which has a similar service in Alexa. Alexa integrates voice-control and speech-recognition technology to enable customers to place orders via voice using the retailer's Prime service.

Reuters/Edgar Su

Google is also removing the $95-a-year membership fee for Google Express, which previously enabled customers to get free two-day shipping at retailers. Now each store on the platform will have its own threshold for free shipping. Walmart's policy will mirror its website, with orders of at least $35 receiving free two-day shipping.

Speaking with Business Insider, Walmart's e-commerce CEO, Marc Lore, was optimistic about the future of shopping using voice.

There will be "certain specific use cases in shopping where voice will be the preferred means," Lore said. "You can imagine you're driving home from work and ordering from groceries via voice and picking them up at your local Walmart on the way home."

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More: Walmart Google Voice Google Assistant 

'A red flag': Business confidence in the UK economy is dropping as Brexit approaches

• Thomas Colson
 

• 9h
• 424

Brexit Scarecrows depicting former British Prime Minister David Cameron (L) and Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson are displayed during the Scarecrow Festival in Heather, Britain July 31, 2016.REUTERS / Darren Staples

LONDON — UK employers are increasingly concerned about the economy as Brexit approaches, according to new research.

A survey of 601 employers by the Recruitment and Employment Confederation (REC) found 31% of employers now expect the economy to worsen, and 28% expect it to improve.

That means the net balance has turned negative, falling from +6% in July to -3% in the latest report.

REC chief executive Kevin Green said issues including access to labour, Brexit negotiations, and political uncertainty are "creating nervousness."

"The jobs market continues to do well despite growing uncertainty. However, this drop in employer confidence should raise a red flag," Green said.

"Businesses are continuing to hire to meet demand, but issues like access to labour, Brexit negotiations and political uncertainty are creating nervousness. Employers in the construction sector are especially concerned as they rely heavily on EU workers to meet the growing demand for housing and to support the government’s infrastructure plans."

The government has flip-flopped over a series of positions on Brexit in recent weeks, including Prime Minister Theresa May's own "red-line" on the role of European judges after Brexit, and Green called on the government to offer greater clarity on its Brexit plans.

He said: "The government must do more to create an environment where businesses have clarity. That means clearly laying out what Brexit plans look like and how employers can keep recruiting the people they need from the EU. The jobs market is in a good place but employers will only continue to hire and invest if they feel assured about the future."

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More: Brexit Recruitment and Employment Confederation Brexit negotiations