This announcement reads very much to me as a checkbox partnership. Both Google and Walmart need to be able to tell this story in response to questions they’ll both get during quarterly earnings because Amazon is pushing the narrative in voice-enabled retail. Both Google and Walmart needed narrative of their own. Walmart’s big problem is still that Amazon is miles ahead on the delivery/logistics build out for home delivery of everyday things. Walmart is still working on converting their massive logistics capabilities from Warehouse->Store to Warehouse->Anywhere.
I very much doubt Amazon is the least bit worried about this deal. It’s a partnership rather than a pure, vertical integration like Amazon’s. It’s an also-ran narrative in a still yet-to-develop market, and Amazon still owns the early- and late-early-adopters who will (perhaps) create that market. More than three quarters of Walmart’s shoppers are over 35 years of age. More than half are over 45.
