Google in talks to take on Amazon in e-commerce
Google is considering delving into online retail and reportedly in talks with major retailers and shippers, armed with a plan to take on e-commerce giant, Amazon.
According to a report by Wall Street Journal, sources familiar with the matter said the search giant was in talks with major retail and logistics players to offer a service that will allow consumers to shop for goods online and receive their orders within a day, at low fees.
A source told the Journal that the plan would not involve selling items directly to consumers, but would look at blending its search engine's product-search feature which directs shoppers to participating retail Web sites. It would also offer a new quick shipping service which Google will oversee.
The service will be based on the company's "behind-the-scenes system" which allows shoppers to decide whether nearby stores have a product in stock, and if they can get the product shipped to them within a day. When shoppers place an order on participating retailers' Web sites, Google would offer them the option of same-day, or next-day delivery, a source told the Journal.
Google hopes the quick-shipping service will attract more to its product-search service, increasing its revenue from product-related ads on the search site, according to the report. Citing sources, it added that the Internet giant was reportedly pushing back with the quick-shipping service and many retailers were interested in signing up for it. Google had pitched the project to big retailers such as Macy's, GAP and OfficeMax, which it had worked with on other projects.
The report added that search giant is hoping to launch the service sometime next year.
Sameer Samat, vice president of product management for Google's commerce initiatives, declined to comment on the reported project. "We have been in the business of connecting shoppers with merchants and the products they're interested in buying for a long time," he told the Journal, which added that Amazon declined to comment.