Walmart, Google unveil 'voice' shopping; Whole Foods cuts prices

April 2 (UPI) -- Retail and tech giants Walmart and Google said Tuesday they're adding voice-activated grocery shopping to a number of other new features aimed at changing the way people buy food.

The companies said in an announcement Walmart's new "voice order" feature works with any device that has Google Assistant -- including Home Hub and Android phones. Customers need only say, "Hey Google, talk to Walmart," and verbally list items on their shopping list.

The system also looks at past purchases to help identify products.

"We're helping customers simply say the word to have Walmart help them shop," Tom Ward, the retailer's senior vice president of digital operations, said.

Google and Walmart say shoppers can manage lists on demand from home or with a mobile device. Walmart said it's working with Google right now, but could expand in the future to include Amazon's Alexa or iPhone's Siri.

Also Tuesday, tech giant Amazon announced its Whole Foods chain will dramatically cut prices this week, as much as 20 percent.

The company bought Whole Foods for $13.7 billion in mid-2017 hoping to ease shopping for Prime members. The price cuts, however, will benefit Prime members and non-members.

"Whole Foods Market continues to maintain the high-quality standards that we've championed for nearly 40 years," John Mackey, Whole Foods' co-founder and chief executive, said in a statement.

"We will lower more prices in the future."

Whole Foods is popular among health-conscious shoppers because it prohibits more than a hundred preservatives, flavors, colors and other ingredients. Its more expensive food prices, though, have long been criticized.

The Wall Street Journal reported earlier this year Whole Foods raised prices on hundreds of items to cover rising costs of packaging, ingredients and transportation.