5 ms·

What's Google's USP here? This service sounds like everything Google that Google goes at great lengths to avoid (physical products, customer service, etc).

wingerlang 11y ago
The fact that they are Google seems pretty unique. Other than that I've got no idea.
wingerlang 11y ago
The fact that they are Google seems pretty unique. Other than that I've got no idea.
Outdoorsman 11y ago
From the article they're simply entering the "delivery" market...picking up items from retail stores and transporting them to willing buyers...obviously a markup is implied...the cost of convenience... There's no holding of inventory...thus no storage-related overhead... When I was in college one of the jobs I had was at a combination "feed" mill/agri-center...the boss was 85 years old and made a speech each year when he distributed Christmas bonuses.... He bought the business as a young man back in the late 30s... He never failed to mention that people relied on what we produced in their everyday lives...he was proud of the fact that he had never laid an employee off... He told us, "People will always want good food when they sit down at the table, and we're part of making that possible..." A truth in the last century...a truth now... Investing in providing one of the basics of life...hard to question the logic...
- mc32 11y ago
  There have been many players in this market, old and new. And when you don't have warehouses to automate and extract efficiency, you need people to do the picking. It takes me quite some time to do my own shopping, knowing my store's layout, knowing what I want in advance. I only see low, low margins. I mean, this is the opposite of self-checkout efficiency. They're putting more people into to the cost of the product/service.
  - Outdoorsman 11y ago
    Wal Mart became a giant by operating on low margins...scaling, then using scale for purchasing leverage... I wouldn't assume that Google is paying the same price that ordinary customers are in the retail settings Google order fillers pick from.. Likely rates were negotiated before launch...
    - mc32 11y ago
      Yeah but groceries are a very thin margin business half percent to two percent profits. There isn't a lot of room for negotiating great prices.
      - Outdoorsman 11y ago
        They are not selling groceries... They are selling the convenience of having groceries delivered to your home... The two are entirely different, the margins, as well...
        mc32 11y ago
        But the market for that convenience is noticeably smaller than the one for just affordable groceries. And at a $10/mo subscription, that's not profitable. Hiring someone at $15/hr to pick groceries and deliver them. I don't see the math working out very well.
        roel_v 11y ago
        Grocery delivery here in the Netherlands is booming, with the big supermarkets offering their own and several smaller players working on services. When I buy from the biggest supermarket here, delivery fee depends on the moment of the day you want it delivered (between 5 and 8 in the evening is the most expensive, e7 (~$10)); cheapest moment is e3 or so. But, if you buy some products delivery is free; this week it was 8 bottles of coke or so. It's pretty much always non-perishables that get you the free delivery. I don't think we've ever paid the delivery fee, maybe once or twice. The price of the groceries is the same as in the shop. You get the specials and all. The ordering app they have even lists the specials right at the top, it's easier to order specials online than it is in-store. Dutch are very price sensitive, there is very little margin for marking up convenience. I don't know how they can make money on this. I suspect they bet on being able to automate order picking within say 5 years and are providing the service now as a loss leader to get people used to the idea, and work out their processes using people before spending big on automation.
- ENGNR 11y ago
  Interestingly Uber say they're in the logistics market too I wonder if grocery delivery is the MVP for an automated delivery market
- pdkl95 11y ago
  > they're simply entering the "delivery" market...picking up items from retail stores and transporting them to willing buyers Thus gaining the ability to track a lot more about what people buy/eat, in addition to their their current tracking what people read (google-analytics), where they go (android), etc. > the cost of convenience... ...plus the long-term cost of giving Google more details about your life.
- dragonwriter 11y ago
  > From the article they're simply entering the "delivery" market... Rather, they are expanding the delivery service they launched 3 years ago to include groceries. They aren't just entering the delivery market.
- konspence 11y ago
  s/..././g
avn2109 11y ago
They want your purchase data.
Gustomaximus 11y ago
I would say this ties in nicely with self driving cars eventually. Not really a USP though. My best guess is this doesn't roll out in anymore cities and we hear little more.
solidocracy 11y ago
Drones quite clearly. They have embedded their intentions on their art work. Pretty boxes falling from the sky each with its own parachute. Its drones. They are getting in now to get skin in the game to test everything and use that data to optimize. Immediate objectives do not include profit rather get customers, create ambassadors, retailer loyalty, and bring those drones in when the timing is right.
makerman1982 11y ago
I think what many comments are missing is how self driving cars play into this. Imagine a car goes to the store, pings a helper for the items, drops off the items. Wages are way lower and you have mostly capital cost.
- JetSpiegel 11y ago
  Drops off the items how? A catapult?
  - pbhjpbhj 11y ago
    Robot arm in to an insulated dropbox with an automated door? More likely you get a text message with an access code and pick your boxes out of the trunk.
dragonwriter 11y ago
> This service sounds like everything Google that Google goes at great lengths to avoid (physical products, customer service, etc). Google Express (for which this is simply a new feature) does all those things, and its something Google has been expanding; its simply false that Google goes great lengths to avoid them. And its an essential feature to compete with Amazon's offering that competes with Google Express. The main Google/Amazon differentiator -- the unique selling point Google has compared to others in the similar space -- is that Google aggregates existing retailers who have unique inventory, customer relations, etc., and preserves those for customers, while Amazon acts as a single separate retailer (essentially, Google's USP is that it preserves the member retailers USPs that aren't tied directly to the physical retail location.)

wingerlang 11y ago

The fact that they are Google seems pretty unique. Other than that I've got no idea.

wingerlang 11y ago

The fact that they are Google seems pretty unique. Other than that I've got no idea.

Outdoorsman 11y ago

From the article they're simply entering the "delivery" market...picking up items from retail stores and transporting them to willing buyers...obviously a markup is implied...the cost of convenience... There's no holding of inventory...thus no storage-related overhead... When I was in college one of the jobs I had was at a combination "feed" mill/agri-center...the boss was 85 years old and made a speech each year when he distributed Christmas bonuses.... He bought the business as a young man back in the late 30s... He never failed to mention that people relied on what we produced in their everyday lives...he was proud of the fact that he had never laid an employee off... He told us, "People will always want good food when they sit down at the table, and we're part of making that possible..." A truth in the last century...a truth now... Investing in providing one of the basics of life...hard to question the logic...

mc32 11y ago
There have been many players in this market, old and new. And when you don't have warehouses to automate and extract efficiency, you need people to do the picking. It takes me quite some time to do my own shopping, knowing my store's layout, knowing what I want in advance. I only see low, low margins. I mean, this is the opposite of self-checkout efficiency. They're putting more people into to the cost of the product/service.
- Outdoorsman 11y ago
  Wal Mart became a giant by operating on low margins...scaling, then using scale for purchasing leverage... I wouldn't assume that Google is paying the same price that ordinary customers are in the retail settings Google order fillers pick from.. Likely rates were negotiated before launch...
  - mc32 11y ago
    Yeah but groceries are a very thin margin business half percent to two percent profits. There isn't a lot of room for negotiating great prices.
    - Outdoorsman 11y ago
      They are not selling groceries... They are selling the convenience of having groceries delivered to your home... The two are entirely different, the margins, as well...
      - mc32 11y ago
        But the market for that convenience is noticeably smaller than the one for just affordable groceries. And at a $10/mo subscription, that's not profitable. Hiring someone at $15/hr to pick groceries and deliver them. I don't see the math working out very well.
      - roel_v 11y ago
        Grocery delivery here in the Netherlands is booming, with the big supermarkets offering their own and several smaller players working on services. When I buy from the biggest supermarket here, delivery fee depends on the moment of the day you want it delivered (between 5 and 8 in the evening is the most expensive, e7 (~$10)); cheapest moment is e3 or so. But, if you buy some products delivery is free; this week it was 8 bottles of coke or so. It's pretty much always non-perishables that get you the free delivery. I don't think we've ever paid the delivery fee, maybe once or twice. The price of the groceries is the same as in the shop. You get the specials and all. The ordering app they have even lists the specials right at the top, it's easier to order specials online than it is in-store. Dutch are very price sensitive, there is very little margin for marking up convenience. I don't know how they can make money on this. I suspect they bet on being able to automate order picking within say 5 years and are providing the service now as a loss leader to get people used to the idea, and work out their processes using people before spending big on automation.
ENGNR 11y ago
Interestingly Uber say they're in the logistics market too I wonder if grocery delivery is the MVP for an automated delivery market
pdkl95 11y ago
> they're simply entering the "delivery" market...picking up items from retail stores and transporting them to willing buyers Thus gaining the ability to track a lot more about what people buy/eat, in addition to their their current tracking what people read (google-analytics), where they go (android), etc. > the cost of convenience... ...plus the long-term cost of giving Google more details about your life.
dragonwriter 11y ago
> From the article they're simply entering the "delivery" market... Rather, they are expanding the delivery service they launched 3 years ago to include groceries. They aren't just entering the delivery market.
konspence 11y ago
s/..././g

avn2109 11y ago

They want your purchase data.

Gustomaximus 11y ago

I would say this ties in nicely with self driving cars eventually. Not really a USP though. My best guess is this doesn't roll out in anymore cities and we hear little more.

solidocracy 11y ago

Drones quite clearly. They have embedded their intentions on their art work. Pretty boxes falling from the sky each with its own parachute. Its drones. They are getting in now to get skin in the game to test everything and use that data to optimize. Immediate objectives do not include profit rather get customers, create ambassadors, retailer loyalty, and bring those drones in when the timing is right.

makerman1982 11y ago

I think what many comments are missing is how self driving cars play into this. Imagine a car goes to the store, pings a helper for the items, drops off the items. Wages are way lower and you have mostly capital cost.

JetSpiegel 11y ago
Drops off the items how? A catapult?
- pbhjpbhj 11y ago
  Robot arm in to an insulated dropbox with an automated door? More likely you get a text message with an access code and pick your boxes out of the trunk.

dragonwriter 11y ago

> This service sounds like everything Google that Google goes at great lengths to avoid (physical products, customer service, etc). Google Express (for which this is simply a new feature) does all those things, and its something Google has been expanding; its simply false that Google goes great lengths to avoid them. And its an essential feature to compete with Amazon's offering that competes with Google Express. The main Google/Amazon differentiator -- the unique selling point Google has compared to others in the similar space -- is that Google aggregates existing retailers who have unique inventory, customer relations, etc., and preserves those for customers, while Amazon acts as a single separate retailer (essentially, Google's USP is that it preserves the member retailers USPs that aren't tied directly to the physical retail location.)