WSJ: Google Targets Amazon's 'Prime' With 1-Day Delivery

[kjk]

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB1000...400561792.html

Google Inc. is aiming to challenge the e-commerce supremacy of Amazon.com Inc. by diving deeper into the fast-growing world of Internet retailing.
The Web-search giant is in talks with major retailers and shippers about creating a service that would let consumers shop for goods online and receive their orders within a day for a low fee, said people familiar with the matter.

Interesting move, if it becomes reality. But curious where Google makes money on it-Amazon makes money on the products it ships thru Prime-will Google be getting ad space from the retailers and shippers in exchange?

edit: ah, Engadget has more details:

Google, in turn, has apparently pitched the project to retailers such as Macy's, Gap and OfficeMax. Under the proposed system, when shoppers place an order on an affiliate's website, Google's system could kick in to offer them an option for same-day or possibly next-day delivery, said a person familiar with the matter

Basically drive more traffic to Google affiliate sites, with the promise of 1 day shipping.

[Andrew H.]

This is very interesting.

Although I would like more details (like the cost). And I would be happy to be surprised, but I'm a little skeptical that they can pull this off - what Amazon does is *really hard* to execute properly...and Google has pretty much no experience in this area.

I'm also kind of thinking that this may be more limited than what Amazon does - only offered from a handful of specific retailers in certain limited geographic areas.

But I suppose you have to start somewhere...and if I happened to need something from one of those retailers and lived in the appropriate geographic area, I might be interested. Depending on the price.

[MrsJoseph]

I like the idea in theory but I don't think I would in practice. Part of what makes Amazon Prime so hot is the fact that the Prime works for a number of products that are all being sold (basically) by the same seller. I always know that I will get the same kind of CS so I am not as concerned about product quality as I am with other online shopping experiences.

[monkeyluis]

I wish google would focus.

[MrsJoseph]

Originally Posted by monkeyluis

I wish google would focus.

^ This

[elemenoP]

There is already a service like this (but it's 2-day shipping, not one day). It's called Shoprunner and among the partners are Toys R Us and Sports Authority. This was designed to compete with Amazon Prime. Here are all the stores:

http://www.shoprunner.com/trial/free...est-stores.php

I don't know how much the yearly fee is, but today they were offering a free year if you like them on Facebook, and it totally overloaded their servers.

eP

[SeaKing]

Originally Posted by elemenoP

There is already a service like this (but it's 2-day shipping, not one day). It's called Shoprunner and among the partners are Toys R Us and Sports Authority. This was designed to compete with Amazon Prime. Here are all the stores:

http://www.shoprunner.com/trial/free...est-stores.php

I don't know how much the yearly fee is, but today they were offering a free year if you like them on Facebook, and it totally overloaded their servers.

eP

1 day or same day delivery is expensive unless the store is in your neighborhood.

[HarryT]

Isn't a service which delivers your stuff the next day for a low fee already in existence? In these parts it's called "the Post Office".

[abookreader]

Originally Posted by HarryT

Isn't a service which delivers your stuff the next day for a low fee already in existence? In these parts it's called "the Post Office".

The post office in the US rarely delivers in one day. Here, even if I send a letter within the same zip code, 3 days is normal.

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by abookreader

The post office in the US rarely delivers in one day. Here, even if I send a letter within the same zip code, 3 days is normal.

OK, thanks. Around here, First Class post is (normally) the next day, Second Class is two days. Obviously, though, the US is a much bigger country!

[RainingLemur]

Originally Posted by abookreader

The post office in the US rarely delivers in one day. Here, even if I send a letter within the same zip code, 3 days is normal.

I really hate this. It's bad when it happens when you're IN THE SAME CITY as the address you're sending to.

[Andrew H.]

Originally Posted by RainingLemur

I really hate this. It's bad when it happens when you're IN THE SAME CITY as the address you're sending to.

I always get two days mail in the same city, and I can get next day mail if I drop it in mailbox at a post office before 8 or 9. In the (smaller) town I grew up in, though, we used to get same day mail before 8.

Still pretty good for 40c.

Of course, my mom remembers when there were two mail deliveries per day (but only one on Saturday, I think).

But if the post office really wanted to make money, they should allow people to pay a fee ($10/year?) to opt out of receiving bulk junk mail.

[RainingLemur]

Originally Posted by Andrew H.

I always get two days mail in the same city, and I can get next day mail if I drop it in mailbox at a post office before 8 or 9. In the (smaller) town I grew up in, though, we used to get same day mail before 8.

I grew up in a small town and we couldn't get same-day mail at all. Once the mail was collected, it was shipped 120~ miles away for processing and then brought back, and it took about 2 days for mail to get delivered in-town. It was frustrating when I'd just want to drive down to the office we needed to mail things to and deliver it in person, but they wouldn't allow it for whatever reason.

[Andrew H.]

Originally Posted by RainingLemur

I grew up in a small town and we couldn't get same-day mail at all. Once the mail was collected, it was shipped 120~ miles away for processing and then brought back, and it took about 2 days for mail to get delivered in-town. It was frustrating when I'd just want to drive down to the office we needed to mail things to and deliver it in person, but they wouldn't allow it for whatever reason.

Wow, that's inconvenient. My town had about 40,000 people and a college, so it wasn't tiny, though. I had a morning paper route when I was in Jr. High and delivered the bills with the morning paper before school. When I got back from school in the afternoon and checked the mail, there would usually be envelopes with checks from two people (always the same two) who paid their bills that morning. (The remaining 71 customers were more difficult to collect from.)

[SeaKing]

Some years ago back in the days of film cameras it was cheaper to mail off your negatives to get prints than to go to the Drug Store who sent them out on truck that came by and picked them up and took them to a processing plant somewhere.

Anyway, I was in Washington, DC for some business over a period of days so when I wasn't waiting around the Navy Dept I went around Washington to the Smithsonian and other places and took some pictures with my 35MM cameras.

While in Washington, I put a couple of mailers with negatives in them, actually to a place that had a Washington, DC address. Then when I got back home a few days later, I put the rest of the pictures in another mailer to the same place in Washington, DC.

After about a week I got back the prints from the negatives that I had mailed from home, but still no pictures from the mailers I had deposited in Washington, DC post boxes.

A full 9 days later I got back the ones deposited in Washington, DC.

Mail can be crazy.

My digital cameras make me HAPPY!

I think I am going to buy another one for Christmas, from AMAZON of course.