Google Assistant on Google Home now lets you shop for items you may need to replenish around the home, or rather anything you just might want or need to buy online. Google has two specific commands that can be spoken to your Google Home speaker to begin the shopping process. Consumers looking to restock something like coffee can say, “Ok Google, order coffee,” and Google Assistant will process this request and place your order for coffee. The other command is “Ok Google, how do I shop?” and Google Assistant will begin to inform you of how and where you can shop and what you can shop for.
Much like the Amazon Echo and other Alexa-powered devices will order items for you from Amazon, Google Home and Google Assistant’s shopping feature works by placing orders from Google’s Express partners. There is a fairly large number of these, over 40 in total, and this includes stores like Whole Foods Market, Walgreens, Nine West, Bed Bath and Beyond, Fry’s Electronics, and of course the Google Store, as it would be a little weird if Google’s own product which they sell in the Google Store, didn’t have the ability to help you shop by voice from that retailer.
While the shopping process is easy and is certainly a straightforward function, it does require a little bit of configuration to get started. Users who own a Google Home will need to go into their Google Home application and enter into the More Settings menu where they can find their payments information and methods. In this sub-menu, you can enter in the necessary data for the shopping orders to be automatic which includes the payment method, either a credit or debit card, as well as the address you’ll be having the items shipped to after the order is finalized. Google says that more features will be added to the shopping experience in the future and they’re even going to be adding the ability to make purchases from other apps and services, though at this time they didn’t mention specifically what those other services would be. With shopping now available it makes the Google Home speaker a little more useful in comparison to something like the Echo, adding a level of convenience that just wasn’t possible with Google Assistant just yet. In addition, Google has a promotion going on right now where consumers who make purchases with their Google Home from now all the way through April 30th won’t have membership or service fees applied to orders.