Google Shopping Express looking for Bay Area testers

http://googlecommerce.blogspot.com/2013/03/calling-all-sf-bay-area-residents-help.html

by rahulroy • 13 years ago

46 33 13 years ago

googlecommerce.blogspot.com

marknutter• 13 years ago

Ah, if only the whole world existed inside the Bay Area.

EugeneOZ2• 13 years ago

When this service will be retired? Should somebody invest time to Google Services?

NegativeK2• 13 years ago

I'm looking forward to the day when "when will Google drop new X?" is retired.

yanw• 13 years ago

You shouldn't feed the trolls :)

EugeneOZ2• 13 years ago

This day is in past actually.

asciimo• 13 years ago

Remember Webvan (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Webvan) and Kozmo (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kozmo)? It will be interesting to see how Google manages the logistics.

rhizome8• 13 years ago

Six months of free same-day delivery, but what's the value of my purchasing data to Google? Shouldn't testers be compensated for that, or does that fall under the altruistic "Google needs your help?" Am I to think of Google as just another buddy who needs a lift to the bus station?

turing• 13 years ago

I'm sorry, but I fail to see how six months of free same-day delivery somehow doesn't count as compensation.

rhizome8• 13 years ago

There are two elements provided to Google here: service viability and the purchasing data from the testing period.

It's certainly open to debate, but I'm questioning that the delivery itself is compensation enough for everything that Google is receiving from the testers. Obviously Google (and you) thinks this, but I don't agree that there's only one possible value-based assessment of the relationship.

dannyr2• 13 years ago

This is what I call being entitled. You get free same-day delivery but it's not enough, he needs more than that.

rhizome8• 13 years ago

You realize I'm just asking some questions, right?

NegativeK2• 13 years ago

Do you demand compensation from Amazon when it gives you free shipping?

RestlessMind• 13 years ago

Free market works - if there weren't enough people to try this out, Google would've certainly paid people to try this out. But I am sure there are a lot of folks who find this deal attractive.

EDIT: Fixed typo

bankim• 13 years ago

Doesn't this compete directly with Instacart and eBay Now?

Sym3tri• 13 years ago

Funny to see things like this when Google retired Reader b/c "...as a company we’re pouring all of our energy into fewer products".

psbp• 13 years ago

Yet this clearly fits into Google's product vision where (for example) you could be shopping with your Google glass, see a product that is offered at a discount, but you can't fit the product into your small autonomous vehicle. You purchase the product and continue shopping, have a google now card pushed to you warning you that the product will be delivered to your house in 30 minutes, use your Nexus phone to turn on the A/C in your house as well as the outdoor lights and the room in which it will be delivered and have the back door unlock for the delivery person. Receive a confirmation of the product being delivered as well as a visual recap of the product being placed in your home as well as a request for adjusting your home's settings (relock the door, turn off the lights and A/C). It sounds like a pretty focused plan IMO.

anigbrowl5• 13 years ago

If you live in the San Francisco Bay Area (in the city of San Francisco, and the Peninsula from San Mateo to San Jose)

What, no love for the East Bay :-p

yummies2• 13 years ago

does that exclude SSF and Daly?

dannyr2• 13 years ago

SSF & Daly City are excluded.

Peninsula covers San Mateo to San Jose.

toufka• 13 years ago

Um, google, are you really targeting the right people with Target, Toys R US, Staples, and Office Depot? I was about to give it a try, but I don't think I've bought anything from any of those stores ever - nor do I really plan on it either...

yummies2• 13 years ago

if you've never bought anything from target, then you're definitely not in the set of "right people" for this program. it goes without saying that the key to success here is logistical optimization, and big-box stores are the easiest place to start.

yalogin• 13 years ago

Why is Google getting into this? I don't see the value in this. I agree they will get my day to day purchase data but is it worth going through the hassle of launching a physical delivery service? Its just not scalable as quickly. It consumes way too many resources and is a mess to handle the logistics and at the end of the day the margins cannot be high unless they are also selling the goods themselves. Will it be competing with Amazon soon?

If not unless my daily purchase data can offset that revenue somehow I don't see how they can sustain this for long.

amac• 13 years ago

> Why is Google getting into this?

Two reasons I'd suggest: it can, and it wants to. Google is a great story and it's continuing to unfold.

Google Shopping Express looking for Bay Area testers

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