Google Cloud unveils retail updates, expands Lowe’s and Wayfair partnerships

Google Cloud has announced it is expanding its retail acceleration program (RAP) among other initiatives designed to scale up retailers’ cloud projects.The moves were announced at NRF 2020, the biggest event in the retail space, with Google doubling down on its message to accelerate retailers’ digital growth and customer experience – pinned together with its data expertise.Alongside RAP, which is Google’s overarching term for services which help retailers optimise their websites as well as drive greater footfall, other tools were announced in various stages of availability. Google Cloud Search for Retail, in the pilot stage, aims to utilise the company’s AI and machine learning tools to provide higher quality product search results for websites and applications, while Google Cloud 1:1 Engagement for Retail, just launched, is a best practice guide to building out models and products in data analytics platform BigQuery.
Among Google Cloud’s retail customers are Kohl’s in the US, Carrefour in France, and Sainsbury’s in the UK; the latter having been announced in October. The company took the opportunity at NRF to unveil further customer updates. Hardware chain Lowe’s, which says it is in the ‘early stages’ of a large scale technology transformation to the tune of $500 million annual investment through 2021, is expanding its partnership with Google Cloud, while last week it was announced eCommerce firm Wayfair was using Google’s hybrid connectivity to tackle capacity issues during peak hours.