Google in talks with retailers, plans to take on Amazon

Google is eyeing on the popularity of Amazon.com's Prime service, offering free two-day shipping for USD 79 a year in the US

PTI | December 5, 2011



Internet search titan Google is in talks to create a service that would let consumers pay a low fee to receive goods from online orders within a day -- in a potential challenge to Amazon.

"The web-search giant is in talks with major retailers and shippers about creating a service that would let consumers shop for goods online and receive their orders within a day for a low fee," the Wall Street Journal reported citing a person familiar with the matter.

Google hopes to launch the service sometime next year, the report said.

The internet firm is eyeing on the popularity of Amazon.com's Prime service, which offers free two-day shipping for USD 79 a year in the US.

The report said that Google does not plan to sell items directly to consumers. Instead, it would meld its search engine's product-search feature, which directs shoppers to participating retail websites, with a new quick-shipping service that internet search engine titan will oversee.

By developing a fast-shipping system, Google aims to tap into a US online-retail industry that is expected to grow 12 per cent to USD 197 billion this year, according to Forrester Research.

The biggest player by far in the field is Amazon, which could see nearly 50 per cent rise in annual revenues to USD 50 billion by year-end.

According to the publication, an Amazon spokesman declined to comment, while Sameer Samat, vice president of product management for Google's commerce initiatives also declined to comment on the quick-delivery plan.

"We have been in the business of connecting shoppers with merchants and the products they're interested in buying for a long time," the report said citing Samat.

Comments

 

Other News

Making AI work where governance is closest to people

India’s next governance leap may not solely come from digitisation. It will come from making public systems more intelligent, more adaptive, and more responsive to the dynamics at the grassroots. That opportunity is especially significant at the panchayat level, where governance is not an abstract po

Borrowing troubles: How small loans are quietly trapping youth

A silent crisis is playing out in the pocket of young India, not in stock markets or government treasuries, but in smartphones of college students and first-jobbers who clicked on the Apply Now button without reading the small print.  A decade ago, to take a loan, you had to do some paperwor

A 19th-century pilgrim’s progress

The Travels of a Sadhu in the Himalayas By Jaladhar Sen (Translated by Somdatta Mandal) Speaking Tiger Books, 259 pages, ₹499.00  

India faces critical shortage of skin donors amid rising burn cases

India reports nearly 70 lakh burn injury cases every year, resulting in approximately 1.4 lakh deaths annually. Experts estimate that up to 50% of these lives could be saved with adequate access to skin donations.   A significant concern is that around 70% of burn victims fall wi

Not just politics, let`s discuss policies too

Why public policy matters Most days, India`s loudest debates stop at the ballot box. We can name every major leader and recall every campaign slogan. Still, far fewer of us can explain why a widow`s pension is delayed or how a government school`s budget is actually approved. That

When algorithms decide and children die

The images have not left me, of dead and wounded children being carried in the arms of the medics and relatives to the ambulances and hospitals. On February 28, at the start of Operation Epic Fury, cruise missiles struck the Shajareh Tayyebeh school – officially named a girls’ school, in Minab,


Archives

Current Issue

Opinion

Facebook Twitter Google Plus Linkedin Subscribe Newsletter

Twitter