Executive Summary

Two retail-tech collaborations have been recently announced, one between US retail giant Walmart and US technology giant Microsoft and another between leading French retailer Carrefour and US technology leader Google. In this report, we analyze:

• How the two retailers aim to improve operations and the customer shopping experience by introducing new technologies through their respective collaborations with Microsoft and Google.
• Why it is important for Walmart and Carrefour to collaborate with external technology partners as they work to compete with ever-expanding e-commerce giant Amazon.
• How the need to reduce costs is driving the application of new technologies in retail and how retailers are using other strategies, such as purchasing alliances, to cut costs and increase operational efficiency.