Amazon Prime subscribers love free two-day shipping, but Google may be planning to one-up the e-tailer with a less expensive service offering same-day delivery from brick-and-mortar retailers.
TechCrunch reported Tuesday that Google may be quietly preparing to launch a new e-commerce initiative known as Google Shopping Express.
According to sources, the same-day delivery service would undercut Amazon's popular $ 79 per year Prime offering, which gives subscribers free two-day shipping on almost everything the e-tailer sells.
Reportedly led by Google e-commerce product manager Tom Fallows, Shopping Express is being positioned as $ 10 to $ 15 less expensive than Amazon Prime, with same-day delivery from select retailers.
No more waiting
Priced at $ 64 or $ 69 per year, Google Shopping Express would deliver products the same day they are ordered from brick-and-mortar retailers such as Target, Walmart, Walgreens and Safeway.
Amazon has also been testing new ways to deliver goods purchased online, an idea Google appears to want a piece of as well, judging from its recent acquisition of BufferBox.
Currently available only in Canada, BufferBox offers consumers a central, convenient place to pick up packages at any time of day, although it's unclear how Google might implement the service into Shopping Express, if at all.
Shopping Express could be a big boost for Google Wallet and Google Shopping, Mountain View's existing e-commerce offerings which have largely floundered, despite being tied into the company's core search engine service.
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