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October 16, 2014

Google Upping the Ante with Delivery Service Subscriptions

While Amazon is the undisputed king of the online retail business, Google is apparently entering the fray and its doing so by going after the very things Amazon does best. Google announced earlier this week that it plans to expand its delivery service and will also begin charging a membership fee. If that sounds familiar it should, Amazon’s delivery service has become one of its biggest strengths. The Amazon Prime service has become one of the most popular in the world, thanks to guaranteed two-day shipping on almost everything for people who have signed up for the subscription.

Google is actually trying to do one better than Amazon but offering unlimited same-day or overnight delivery on any order over $15. In exchange for this service, the Internet giant is charging $10 a month or $95 a year. That fee is larger than the $79 per year Amazon charges, though the delivery time is shrunk.

Google is also offering this quick turnaround for packages ordered for non-members as well. Non-members will pay a fee of $4.99 an order or $7.99 per order if the total cost is less than $15. Deliveries had been offered up as free before this particular change. The service was originally called Google Shopping Express but now the name has been shortened to Google Express.

Google Express lets customers order products from a variety of different retailers such as Costco, Staples and Walgreens. The service isn’t available everywhere just yet, but it is getting an expansion to Washington, DC, Boston and Chicago. The service was previously located only in San Francisco and parts of New York City. New retailers are coming aboard as well, including PetSmart, Sports Authority and Vitamin Shoppe. While Amazon is certainly not quaking in its rather large boots just yet, this kind of service from Google could eventually grow into something rather big.




Edited by Maurice Nagle


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