

Google Shopping Express - mariusz79
https://www.google.com/shopping/express/

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r00fus
I've been spending thousands a year on Amazon. Last year that changed
dramatically. I probably spent half what I used to on Amazon, and the majority
of that redirected spending is now spent at GSX.

Initially the prices favored Amazon, but as of late, I've been finding things
(search: "training pants 3t") where Amazon is 50%+ more expensive than the
local stores through GSX. The same day experience is mind-blowing; I don't
stop off at the local hardware store, I search for my garage door opener
battery model and it's on my back porch by the time I get home.

Everyone's had a guffaw about Amazon's automated pricing agent and the $23M
book [1], but Google is in a position to really trip them up, unless Amazon
gets a reign in on it's pricing. And then there's the fact that "2 day
shipping" pales in comparison to Google's same-day experience.

I was lucky enough to be in an an area that Google serviced, and would
probably have also tried Amazon Fresh, but honestly, the free beta was too
good to pass up (and I would have thought twice about the $299/y Fresh
subscription though I'm sure it's worth it).

My only concern is that the deliveries are made from stores nowhere near me
really and I'd be much less guilty if the same brand stores were more local
(they're losing my business as well right now).

[1]
[http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2384102,00.asp](http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2384102,00.asp)

(edit clarity)

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2pasc
Out of curiosity - what kind of more "local" stores would you like if GSX is
coming from chains anyway? (I live in the Bay Area, so you can give precise
names, and I might know them). Thanks!

~~~
r00fus
First off, Google includes some non-chain stores like Palo Alto Toy & Sport
(which I've bought plenty from).

My concern about locality, even with chain stores, is that my money is
shifting from say, the San Jose Walgreens near me and instead going to the one
up the peninsula that actually fulfills the order - at some inflection point,
if GSX takes off, does that mean less stores?

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selectout
Been using this for a little over a year now and I can honestly say it's
become almost a dependency for me. It really is amazing being able to order
something and most of the time have it arrive within 3-5 hours or worst case
scenario the next morning. I can ship things to work or my home (for free
currently), etc. I'm guessing I may hold back on it when they start charging
as I could do things like Instacart for quicker service, but at free delivery
it is amazing.

~~~
2pasc
It's funny that you would switch to Instacart if they (=google) charged you,
when Instacart is already 20-30% more expensive of Google Shopping Express on
most items already (this is how they make money).

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rahimnathwani
It's not obvious that this is their business model until you browse their
selection and realise the prices seem high.

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apendleton
As far as I can tell, there's no way to determine what this is if you're not
in a zipcode that they serve. I'm not, so I remain in the dark... not the best
user experience.

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denwer
There is a "Just curious? Browse our San Francisco stores" link below the zip-
inputfield

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apendleton
So there is! Thanks for pointing it out; I missed it on first browse. Still,
an explanation of what the offering is before asking me for information about
myself would be nice.

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bhartzer
I remember Matt Cutts from Google describing how he was putting up Christmas
Lights, standing on a ladder and ordered more masking tape so he could hang
more lights. Shortly he apparently had a delivery of masking tape, and the
delivery guy even brought it up to him on by climbing the ladder.

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ChuckMcM
Its an awesome service but I can't imagine it being successful until Google
has self driving cars or something. Seeing the drivers sitting around smoking
waiting for an order to come in by Target reminds me that these guys were
pulling down $10+/hr for essentially no economic activity. Hard to spread that
over the cost of deliveries.

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Diederich
I chatted with one of the drivers. He said that he was an independent
contractor, and he only got paid when he was actually doing deliveries.

So, sadly, this might be a case where un/underemployed people are keen to make
whatever money they can.

I'd love to see a driver chime in on this thread.

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zzm
For those who have been using this - how is the pricing? The reason I ask is
that I don't see how Google can make money (especially with free shipping for
6 months) without putting a markup on items. Perhaps they are just trying to
gain traction and are willing to bite the bullet for the first 6 months.

I did a quick comparison between a random product: LG 42" Class 1080p 60Hz LED
HDTV. Target's direct online store offers the TV for $379, while Google
Shopping has it listed for $449.99. I haven't done other comparisons, but this
seems to confirm my belief that Google is marking the products up to some
extent.

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mech4bg
I've never seen them mark anything up. Sale prices are reflected as well. They
must be losing money on each order currently.

~~~
mentat
There was another article stating they got a cut of each sale from the store
in the single percentage digits.

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broabprobe
guess I'm puzzled why this is on the front page today. Been using this for
months. It's fabulous though.

~~~
jfoster
I hadn't checked it out until now. Has anything changed recently that may have
prompted this post? (did it go from private to publicly available, for
example?)

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Aloisius
Do people use this in San Francisco? The selection seems awfully limited. I
typically get everything from Amazon and Postmates - except foodstuffs which I
pick up myself.

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joshfraser
I use it constantly. I've ordered 3 times from them in the last 3 days You see
their little vans all over SF.

The free delivery and fast turnaround makes it incredibly convenient. You even
get better prices since you can comparison shop before you order.

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vikas5678
What I really need is a service that can deliver milk and eggs and other
staples in a day, seems like most cant do that.

~~~
vikas5678
I'm in San Jose, incase anyone knows of a service that does deliver?

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nickm12
Amazon Fresh ([https://fresh.amazon.com](https://fresh.amazon.com)) is in
Northern CA, but I don't think they service the south bay yet.

~~~
wilbo
They do as of today!

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bane
Does't deliver to my area - the wealthiest, most populous town in the richest
county in the United States.

It looks interesting, but then again, I don't really see anything on the site
that's so perishable I can't wait a few days for Amazon to deliver or for me
to just go to the store...and for groceries, things that actually would be
perishable, I can just go on a nice walk anyways.

I mean, if I'm ever in a situation where I absolutely need a guitar or a box
of trashbags or whatever so urgently that I can't wait a few days, I may as
well just go to the store and get it myself, faster than GSX can deliver
anyways.

The intersection of need, time and stuff here is kind of small. I'd be much
more interest if GSX could guarantee 1hr delivery of take-out from all the
restaurants in my area that don't deliver/are out of my delivery zone.

Am I lacking in imagination here?

~~~
chatmasta
I think you're just lacking in a realization that being in the "wealthiest,
most populous town in the richest county in the United States" does not
guarantee you get to be the first to try new services. I don't know if living
in that town means you also have any sort of intelligence, but if you didn't
notice, this kind of service requires a lot of local overhead (trucks,
delivery people, contracts with stores, etc). Obviously, Google is going to
launch it on their home turf first.

Maybe if you move from the "richest county in the United States" to an area
with more common folk, like Mountain View (sarcasm), you'll have better luck
with trying products.

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richbradshaw
The page is very slow to load -
[http://www.webpagetest.org/result/140715_RP_S9V/](http://www.webpagetest.org/result/140715_RP_S9V/)
in film strip mode shows 29 second load time, which is consistent with how it
feels in real usage.

Why are they using so much JS? Checking the source I don't think there is any
HTML content - even providing just the basic header/main/footer/product title,
price and one image would make this feel way quicker to load.

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DeepakShah
This is great, looks like they have expanded their coverage across the bay.

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donretag
I was surprised when it indicated that my area is supported since I love far
away from any metro area. Turns out they now deliver overnight to most of
Northern California, just not same day service.

I really do not need next day service for something from Walgreens.

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lem72
if you want to see what is offered zip code 90211 works

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Fuzzwah
Count down to GSX self driving cars?

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lnanek2
Looks like a clone of postmates.com . Unfortunately, Google can pretty easily
get more users than them just using their already existing traffic. Some
Google services have even gotten full page ads when visiting gmail.com like
Google Wave and forced user enrollment like Google Plus.

