Albertsons Cos and Google announce grocery shopping tech tie up

Albertsons Companies and Google have announced a multi-year omnichannel customer experience partnership.

The two have been collaborating behind the scenes for the past year and are now debuting several new features that aim to make the shopping experience easier and more exciting.

This includes integrating with Google Search and Maps to help shoppers more easily find what they need, making it easier to shop with Google Pay, and tapping Google Cloud AI technologies such as Vision AI, Recommendations AI, and Business Messages into operations to create what is described as “the world’s most predictive grocery engine”.

Albertsons Cos. and Google are also making it even easier for customers to get groceries for pickup and delivery, by providing information about online ordering from many Albertsons Cos.’ stores directly within mobile search. This is coming to Google Maps later in the year.

“We are continuing to transform into a modern retailer fit for the future, and we are leading the industry forward by providing the easiest and most exciting shopping experience for our customers,” says Chris Rupp, EVP and Chief Customer & Digital Officer at Albertsons Cos.

“In bringing together Google’s technology expertise with our commitment to customer centric innovation, we’re providing our customers with a superior shopping experience no matter how they choose to shop with us.”

Carrie Tharp, VP of Retail and Consumer, Google Cloud, comments: “The unique strategic and technical collaboration at the heart of this partnership sets the stage for sustained post-pandemic transformation and momentum that will become clear to customers in both the near- and long-term.”