Google has today officially launched their shopping program for Google Home, allowing orders to be placed with over 50 retail partners in the US.
The feature first started appearing last night, and can be activated by asking Google Home ‘Ok Google, how do I shop?’ or simply placing an order such as ‘Ok Google, order paper towels’.
US Google Home owners will be required to setup a payment method under settings in the Google Assistant settings. US owners can go to the Google Home app, then to “More settings”, then scroll down to “Payments” to enter their payment details. We saw last night this setting hasn’t yet appeared here in Australia – basically because Google Home isn’t available here as yet.
As an introductory offer, Google is offering free shipping for orders placed through Google Home including waiving any additional fees until April 30th.
It looks like a big play for Google who is utilising their fairly extensive Google Shopping Express network they’ve built up over the last few years in the US. Even if Google brings Home to Australia, there’s a lot of work they’ll have to do with local suppliers to mirror this function here.
