Google said it has expanded its service for home delivery – Google Express – which can now be accessed all over the East Coast. This service allows shoppers online to make order for products such as clothing, electronics, home décor, beauty and health items, as well as dry groceries when they make use of the mobile app dedicated for it or using the web. The company is estimated to get across about 70 million people or at least about a dozen of the eastern states.
They announced that commencing from today, the service is live in the following states, Maryland, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Virginia, New Jersey, Connecticut, Maine, New York, Massachusetts, West Virginia, Vermont, Rhode Island and New Hampshire.
Shoppers located in that region will have access to various retailers, including PetSmart, Costco, Ulta Beauty, Adorama, L’Occitane, Road Runner, Payless, Whole Foods, Kohl’s, and a few others.
There is an option for shoppers that are located in the metro areas to place order same day and have it delivered same day while others in the rural and suburban regions will have to wait a day or two for their deliveries.
This will be a rival for Amazon’s Prime Now that delivers on the same day to shoppers in the U.S. major cities. Then for the Prime membership program, there is a two-day delivery on countless of items for any shopper regardless of their location.
But Google Express will not be able to provide groceries that are fresh like fruits, milk, frozen or refrigerated items, and veggies.
This is why the company closed its services for delivery of fresh groceries before this recent expansion. So the company has left the scene for Peapod, Instacart or AmazonFresh for this new expansion that will be much easier for them to handle.
Google is making the move at a time that shoppers are relying on Amazon first before any other thing. In a survey carried out recently, polls show that over 55% of consumers in U.S. which was 44% last year now embark their search for products on Amazon directly. This made search engines like Yahoo and Google to see declines. For Google, it went down to 28% from 34% for users of the web that make their shopping from their site.
For Google Express, their means of raising income is by charging non-members the sum of $4.99 while subscribers can pay $95 for the whole year. This has some resemblance with what Amazon charges for Prime membership. There is also the limitation of store minimums that ranges from $15 to $35 with any other thing higher than that to be paid for differently.
There is also a percentage that goes to Google for each order placed while delivery services and courier take care of the deliveries.
The company said that presently, they are available to not less than 75% of continental U.S. There is no way to tell how many people make use Google Express because of the huge market. Google on the other hand, has refused to give out any information that can help in monitoring their effect in the market.
