The Los Angeles Times reports that Google is expanding its Google Shopping Express service from San Francisco to the Santa Monica area in Southern California. Among the retailers that work with Google in San Francisco are Office Depot, Target, Toys R Us, Walgreens, L'Occitane and Whole Foods Market, though Google has not confirmed which ones will work with it in Santa Monica.
According to the story, "On the Google Shopping Express website, shoppers can compare products from participating brands before placing items into a single online 'basket.' Users can pay shipping costs of $4.95 for each retailer from which they make a purchase. Or they can sign up for a membership that offers unlimited same-day deliveries.
"For now, Google is offering six months of free membership. The company has yet to determine how to price the membership once the trial run concludes.
"The next step in the purchase process: Customers choose a window of time for delivery. Goods are sent to customers in Google-branded Priuses or trucks driven either by Google employees or third-party couriers trained by the company."
According to the story, "On the Google Shopping Express website, shoppers can compare products from participating brands before placing items into a single online 'basket.' Users can pay shipping costs of $4.95 for each retailer from which they make a purchase. Or they can sign up for a membership that offers unlimited same-day deliveries.
"For now, Google is offering six months of free membership. The company has yet to determine how to price the membership once the trial run concludes.
"The next step in the purchase process: Customers choose a window of time for delivery. Goods are sent to customers in Google-branded Priuses or trucks driven either by Google employees or third-party couriers trained by the company."
- KC's View:
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Just another example of how this whole space is changing, and the kinds of options that are being placed in front of consumers. For retailers looking at this landscape and trying to figure out what to do, I would offer the following wisdom from The Shawshank Redemption: "Get busy living, or get busy dying."
