Image: Google
Google has been testing its same-day delivery service, Google Shopping Express, in cities like San Francisco, New York City, and Los Angeles, for about a year now. Now, thanks to the success of those trials, the company is expanding the service to Chicago, Boston, and Washington D.C. under a new and simplified name: Google Express.
The news, which Google revealed with a blog post on Tuesday, is yet another sign of the increasing pressure Google is under by competitors like Amazon. This week, Google chairman Eric Schmidt admitted as much during a speech in Berlin, where he referred to the e-commerce company as Google’s “biggest search competitor.”
“People don’t think of Amazon as search, but if you are looking for something to buy, you are more often than not looking for it on Amazon,” Schmidt said. And if Amazon is cutting into Google’s search share, it could cut into Google’s ad revenues. That’s why Google is moving so briskly into shopping and delivery services.
Still, Google has some work ahead of it. Delivery has become an increasingly crowded field, dominated not just by Amazon, but by a fleet of smaller players like Instacart, Postmates, and even Uber. Some of these companies, like Instacart, already have deals with retailers like Whole Foods, which could limit Google’s ability to expand geographically with its existing partners. Google may dominate the search and advertising world, but it’s just another entrant in this emerging market.
Still, Google’s aggressive national expansion—and deep pockets—will certainly help. Google Express will now be available to 7 million people across the country, making it more geographically dispersed than Amazon Fresh, which is only available today in Northern California. And, taking another page out of Amazon’s book, it seems Google is looking to compete with the e-commerce company on price. At $95 a year, Google Express is a fraction of the cost of Amazon’s $299 a-year same day service, Amazon Fresh. To sweeten the deal, Google is even throwing in the first three months of Google Express for free. Amazon’s free trial lasts just 30 days.
This tit-for-tat battle between two of the country’s tech titans will likely only get more fierce once Amazon launches its same day delivery service in New York City, which could happen in the coming weeks. The company is even rumored to be opening a store in the Big Apple, which could act as equal parts warehouse and billboard for the new service.
The fight for search dominance has already been waging online. Now, Google and Amazon are about to take it to the streets.
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