Google is in the business of selling of ads, Amazon in the business of delivering goods. Lately, though, these two businesses seem to have converged.
The first way this is happening is simple: Google is getting into the market for on-demand goods. It launched a same-day delivery service, Google Shopping Express, in the Bay Area in 2013 and expanded it to customers in Manhattan and West Los Angeles in May. On Monday, Google announced that its service is rolling out to Chicago, Boston and Washington with a shorter name (Google Express), a more colourful logo, and a newly defined pricing plan.
These numbers are hardly incidental — $95 is a shade cheaper than the $99 fee for a yearlong membership on Amazon Prime and significantly less than the $299 fee for Amazon Prime Fresh, a same-day delivery service for groceries and other “eligible orders”.
The two services have some differences. Google’s is exclusively for delivery, while benefits for members of Amazon Prime include unlimited music and video streaming from Amazon’s collections. Amazon has massive warehouses while Google works with local retailers. However there is no doubt that slowly but surely Google is encroaching on Amazon territory.