Bolstering a relationship between two Amazon rivals Walmart has reportedly inked a deal with Microsoft to leverage the tech companys cloud capabilities The idea is to make the shopping experience easier and faster for consumers CNBC reported In a statement on Tuesday July 17 Walmart CEO Doug McMillon said Walmarts commitment to technology is centered around creating incredibly convenient ways for customers to shop and empowering associates to do their best work With the partnership engineers from both Microsoft and Walmart will collaborate in order to bring a large portion of Samsclubcom and Walmartcom to Microsoft Azure And on Tuesday July 17 Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella remarked that the worlds leading companies run on our cloud and Im thrilled to partner with Walmart to accelerate their digital transformation with Microsoft Azure and Microsoft 365 The news comes as Britains Marks Spencer Group M S is collaborating with Microsoft Through their strategic partnership the companies will experiment with the integration of Microsoft AI technologies into M S stores as well as the retailers broader operations retail news source Chain Store Age reported We want to be at the forefront of driving value into the customer experience using the power of technology Marks Spencer CEO Steve Rowe has said in a statement Working together with Microsoft to understand the full potential of how technology and artificial intelligence can improve the in-store experience for our customers and the efficiencies of our wider operations could be a game-changer for M S and for retail With the partnership Microsofts product personnel and AI engineers will work with the retail labs team at M S The move came as the retailer unveiled a plan in November to become a digital-first business and as Microsoft is working on self-checkout technology According to a report in Reuters citing six people familiar with the matter Microsofts Business AI team is working on cashierless technology that would track items placed in a shopping cart