Good news foodies! Google Express, the search engine’s home delivery service, will now begin shipping fresh grocery items to its customers. The service is starting small and is only available to select areas of SF and LA for the moment. This will have the search giant competing with other grocery delivery services like Amazon and Instacart, but it’s teaming up with local retailers like Costco and Whole Foods.
It isn’t all roses though. Express’ two-hour delivery window is being stretched to four hours for one thing. Also, the minimum charge has increased from $15 to $35, plus a $3 per-order surcharge for members.
Still, if you have the money and want the convenience of this service, it will be worth it to you. Google has been testing this in San Francisco since last fall. The company is able to make deliveries work by positioning itself as a middleman between retailers and consumers. Why set up logistics centers itself when you can just drive a van to a partner supermarket, pick up your stuff and drop it off? It will be interesting to see how well this does and where else it might show up next. They believe they have a working plan for pulling it off.
Source Engadget