Amazon Stays One Step Ahead of Google: Delivery Wars
Amazon created some hubbub this month with the announcement of one-hour deliveries featured by Prime Now, right on the heels of Google’s Shopping Express same-day shipping. Amazon’s Prime Now service poises the already combative online shopping giants in the newest ecommerce arena- same day delivery for consumable goods.
Amazon Prime Now One-Hour Delivery
For Manhattan residents (right now), Amazon Now offers Prime members one-hour delivery using Amazon’s phone app. For $7.99 Prime members can receive household items such as shampoo and batteries in as little as one hour.
Amazon shoppers can expect delivery in as little as an hour in select New York areas between 6 a.m. and midnight, seven days a week. For those with less of a time restriction, Amazon also offers a free two-hour delivery.
Amazon plans to expand the Prime Now one-hour delivery service in 2015, which is currently expedited by bicycle messengers. Amazon’s Prime Now service couples with Amazon Prime, which offers online shoppers free shipping options, video and music streaming, in addition to photo storage.
TL;DR Amazon Prime Now One-Hour Delivery
Service: One or two hour delivery
Price: $7.99 for one-hour delivery (Free for 2 hour delivery)
Availability: Select parts of New York
Selection: Household items
Google Same-Day Shipping
Google Express which has been in testing for over a year is available in San Francisco, New York, and Los Angeles, added services for Chicago, Washington and Boston in October. Google Express is a yearly subscription service ($95/year) for same-day or overnight delivery.
Unlike Amazon Prime which ships items from Amazon, Google Express leverages products from 40 participating retailers including Target and Costco:
TL;DR Google Express Same-Day Delivery
Service: Same Day or overnight shipping
Price: $95/year (First three months free. Free for orders over $15)
Availability: 6 Major cities
Selection: 40 Major retailers including REI and Staples
Forbes reported that “As more people shop at home, the total U.S. delivery market is projected to expand 12 percent to $82 billion in 2016” according to Satish Jindel, president of SJ Consulting Group Inc., a research firm in Sewickley, Pennsylvania.
Amazon has also been testing brick and mortar stores this year, continuing the omni-channel and cross-device ecommerce trend that will only continue to expand in 2015.
Online delivery and expedited shipping are increasingly in-demand features for online sellers; a trend retail giants are leveraging to meet consumer needs.
You Might Be Interested In
