This Tech Giant Steps into the Retail Ring

The following video is part of our "Motley Fool Conversations" series, in which Austin Smith, consumer goods editor and analyst, and Andrew Tonner, technology and media editor and analyst, discuss topics across the investing world .

In today's edition, Austin and Andrew look at Google, which has launched a service comparable to Amazon Prime, offering free shipping arrangements with a number of retailers. This is an important move because as an ad-based company, some of Google's most prized data are consumer spending habits (which it couldn't track because consumers were going straight to amazon.com instead of google.com).

This is just one of the interesting trends going on in the industry. To learn about larger implications, I invite you to take a look at The Motley Fool's special free report: "The Death of Wal-Mart: The Real Cash Kings Changing the Face of Retail." In it, you'll see which retailers are able to consistently outperform, and how two cash kings are planning to ride the waves of retail's changing tide. You can access it by CLICKING HERE.