SAN FRANCISCO: Google Express is the tech giant’s latest way of reaching into our lives, offering kerbside drop-offs of sundries like laundry detergent, baby toys and snack food. You order what you want online or via a smartphone app. A third-party courier then runs out to the appropriate store and picks it up, wrapped in Google packaging. A few hours later, it arrives on your doorstep.
The service, which offers free delivery for an annual $95 membership fee, was launched in March last year in San Francisco and then New York. Google announced that it was rolling out the service in Washington DC, Chicago and Boston bringing about 19 million Americans within its reach.
Google isn’t the only company rushing to deliver products in the same way as pizzas. the field of same-day deliveries has exploded in the past few years. eBay now offers a similar service in five US cities. So too does Amazon, which recently announced its intention to open a physical store in New York City, in part to enable faster deliveries. A rash of start-ups is also snapping at their heels Instacart for groceries, Ice Cream Life for ice cream, and Postmates, Deliv, UberRUSH and WunWun, which will deliver anything you want.
