by Casey Johnston
Google is prepping a shopping service competitor to Amazon Prime, reported TechCrunch Tuesday. Named Google Shopping Express, the service will undercut Amazon in price to bring customers expedited delivery on orders for goods placed online from retailers including Target, Walmart, Walgreens, and Safeway.
Google Shopping Express is set to cost $10 to $15 less than the $79-per-year Amazon Prime, according to TechCrunch. Shopping Express would serve as an anchor to Google’s other e-commerce services like Google Wallet and Google Shopping. Google Shopping, for its part, is often front and center when consumers go to look for a product online but is often passed over because it lacks an edge over buying directly from a retailer.
Google Wallet has largely flown under consumers' radar since its launch and has seemed to surface as a service of note only during its security issues and failure to get NFC to catch on ("Google, stop trying to make NFC happen. It's never going to happen"). If Google could turn Shopping and Wallet into a seamless experience backed by same-day delivery, it could easily compete with Amazon. Given Google’s other robust business lines, it could likely absorb the narrow profitability problems that Amazon occasionally has in maintaining its grueling shipping volume.