Walmart partners with Google on grocery shopping via voice

In this Monday, Nov. 5, 2018, photo, a woman carries a fire extinguisher past the logo for Google at the China International Import Expo in Shanghai. (AP Photo/Ng Han Guan)

NEW YORK -- Walmart will now allow its shoppers to order their groceries by voice through Google's smart home assistant, its latest attempt to challenge Amazon's growing dominance.

Starting this month, shoppers can add items directly to their Walmart grocery cart, according to a company blog post on Tuesday. Walmart Inc. says it can quickly identify the items customers are asking for, based on information from prior purchases with Walmart. For example, if a customer tells Google Assistant to add milk to the cart, it can make sure to add the specific milk the customer buys regularly.

The new features come almost two years after the retailer announced a partnership with Google.

Amazon.com's Echo will capture 63.3% of smart speaker users in 2019, while Google Home will account for 31%, according to eMarketer.