Walmart develops low-cost smart speaker to court budget-conscious shoppers

Walmart is moving toward a low-cost smart speaker under its Onn brand, a sign that the retailer sees more value in owning another daily touchpoint than in selling a standalone device. In a market still dominated by Amazon Echo and Google Nest, the bet is not just on a cheaper speaker. It is on a device that could pull more shopping into Walmart’s ecosystem at a time when shoppers are still trimming discretionary spending.

A leaked listing on the Connectivity Standards Alliance site suggested the speaker could run on Gemini, which would put Walmart in the middle of Google’s latest push to open its assistant software to third-party hardware again. Google has already said Gemini for Home replaces Google Assistant on speakers and displays, and that some of the more advanced features sit behind a paid Google Home Premium subscription. The standard plan is listed at $10 a month, while the advanced plan costs $20.

That matters because Walmart is not chasing a gadget for gadget’s sake. A smart speaker tied to Onn could become a new front door for voice ordering, membership prompts, recurring purchases and ads, all of which can generate more frequent customer contact than a trip to a store aisle. For Walmart, that is the bigger prize: turning a budget device into a shopping habit.

The timing lines up with what Walmart’s finance chief has been telling investors. On June 6, 2025, Walmart CFO John David Rainey said shoppers were still focused on food and essentials rather than discretionary purchases, with wallets still stretched. In other words, the company is reading the market correctly if it is leaning into a low-cost device instead of a premium one.

Walmart’s own filings show why the strategy fits. In its February 20, 2025 earnings release, the company said it was using technology to improve customer experience and growing higher-margin businesses such as advertising. Its 2025 annual report said the fiscal year ended January 31, 2025. A smart speaker would give Walmart another route to those higher-margin bets, while also feeding more traffic into pickup and digital ordering.

For store workers, the significance is less about whether a speaker sells well than about what it could change behind the scenes. More voice-based grocery replenishment and routine purchases could mean more predictable digital demand, tighter pickup coordination and more pressure on store operations to keep fulfillment accurate and fast. In Bentonville, Arkansas, the logic looks like growth. On the sales floor, it could look like another layer of work shaped by Walmart’s push to keep shoppers buying without leaving its ecosystem.