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They need to solve shipping. Partner with Uber (or hey, Waymo) to pick up and drop off packages from shops to consumers. An alternate model would be to make se

They need to solve shipping. Partner with Uber (or hey, Waymo) to pick up and drop off packages from shops to consumers. An alternate model would be to make search good enough let consumers find stores within a radius of their current location selling X, and price compare them. E.g. I need a widget - stores a, b and c are selling it. Store a is $14.99 and 5 miles away, store b is $8.99 and 15 miles away, store c is $11.99 and 20 miles away.

stx 6y ago
I think for some products on shopping.google.com you can already search within your area. I think it it does not work with all products though I know I have seen it on some. Like electronics at Best Buy. Just search on shopping.google.com and then in the filters on the left side check the box for "Available nearby".
- deleted 6y ago
  [deleted]
beenBoutIT 6y ago
They need to partner with the US Postal Service and the USPS needs to become the primary delivery method for this type of retail. The USPS has the advantage of already visiting every reltail location 6 days a week for mail delivery. As far as society as a whole is concerned, adding additional postal workers to the workforce is a lot better than adding more temporary gig workers.
- Corrado 6y ago
  I think this is a great idea. In fact, I would like to see Google partner with things like Craigslist or FB Marketplace to list items from anyone and then use USPS to ship them. It would be like the worlds largest yard sale. 1. Dig something out of your basement that might be worth something; Treadmill, Pokemon Cards, etc. 2. "List" it on Google Shopping 3. USPS picks it up and delivers it 4. PROFIT!
mrweasel 6y ago
"Solve shipping"... Shipping packages is a solved problem in many countries. You order something, before the shipping company picks up the orders for today at the sell, anywhere from 17:00 to 22:00. It shows up at your door the next day or a pickup point of your choosing.
- flavor8 6y ago
  To truly compete with Amazon, they need convenience. Buying packages from mom&pop retailers to ship can yield anywhere from 1 day to 3 week delivery times. Aside from a strong anti-Amazon conviction, where's the motivation for consumers to do that? To achieve convenience requires either building out a logistics infrastructure on the scale of Amazon, which is clearly a business Google doesn't want to be in, or to approach the problem from the opposite direction. Brick and mortar retail is declining, especially post-pandemic (but also pre); that said, there is already an infrastructure that exists transfers goods to retail locations - it's just spread over 10,000 companies rather than 1. However, if you can write software to better utilize that infrastructure so that you allow consumers to find items that are already physically close to them, and ship using either "last mile" crowdsourcing (and eventually auto-driving vehicles), or at least direct consumers to where the items are so that they can travel less than 30 minutes and get _the_ item they want, then you can come up with a credible anti-Amazon alliance. Example: I want to buy a sun shade for a pergola. There are probably 10 stores within 20 miles of me that carry them, but I have no idea ahead of time the brands, the price, the color, the size, etc. I could spend an hour calling the stores, and have irritated minimum wage cashiers do inventory searches for me an attempt to answer my questions. Alternately I can go on Amazon, make a purchase, and have it shipped in 2 days from a warehouse 900 miles away from me.
  - mrweasel 6y ago
    The US, and other large countries, may be the special case in this situation. Having something shipped from Amazon, and other non-local webshops means waiting for a few days, or weeks. While ordering from any online store (even the mom and pop retailers) within the country will almost always be next day delivery, and you get to pick between at least two shipping companies. For selection and availability, pick any local price comparison site, and just order from which ever is cheapest and have the item in stock.

stx 6y ago

I think for some products on shopping.google.com you can already search within your area. I think it it does not work with all products though I know I have seen it on some. Like electronics at Best Buy. Just search on shopping.google.com and then in the filters on the left side check the box for "Available nearby".

deleted 6y ago
[deleted]

beenBoutIT 6y ago

They need to partner with the US Postal Service and the USPS needs to become the primary delivery method for this type of retail. The USPS has the advantage of already visiting every reltail location 6 days a week for mail delivery. As far as society as a whole is concerned, adding additional postal workers to the workforce is a lot better than adding more temporary gig workers.

Corrado 6y ago
I think this is a great idea. In fact, I would like to see Google partner with things like Craigslist or FB Marketplace to list items from anyone and then use USPS to ship them. It would be like the worlds largest yard sale. 1. Dig something out of your basement that might be worth something; Treadmill, Pokemon Cards, etc. 2. "List" it on Google Shopping 3. USPS picks it up and delivers it 4. PROFIT!

mrweasel 6y ago

"Solve shipping"... Shipping packages is a solved problem in many countries. You order something, before the shipping company picks up the orders for today at the sell, anywhere from 17:00 to 22:00. It shows up at your door the next day or a pickup point of your choosing.

flavor8 6y ago
To truly compete with Amazon, they need convenience. Buying packages from mom&pop retailers to ship can yield anywhere from 1 day to 3 week delivery times. Aside from a strong anti-Amazon conviction, where's the motivation for consumers to do that? To achieve convenience requires either building out a logistics infrastructure on the scale of Amazon, which is clearly a business Google doesn't want to be in, or to approach the problem from the opposite direction. Brick and mortar retail is declining, especially post-pandemic (but also pre); that said, there is already an infrastructure that exists transfers goods to retail locations - it's just spread over 10,000 companies rather than 1. However, if you can write software to better utilize that infrastructure so that you allow consumers to find items that are already physically close to them, and ship using either "last mile" crowdsourcing (and eventually auto-driving vehicles), or at least direct consumers to where the items are so that they can travel less than 30 minutes and get _the_ item they want, then you can come up with a credible anti-Amazon alliance. Example: I want to buy a sun shade for a pergola. There are probably 10 stores within 20 miles of me that carry them, but I have no idea ahead of time the brands, the price, the color, the size, etc. I could spend an hour calling the stores, and have irritated minimum wage cashiers do inventory searches for me an attempt to answer my questions. Alternately I can go on Amazon, make a purchase, and have it shipped in 2 days from a warehouse 900 miles away from me.
- mrweasel 6y ago
  The US, and other large countries, may be the special case in this situation. Having something shipped from Amazon, and other non-local webshops means waiting for a few days, or weeks. While ordering from any online store (even the mom and pop retailers) within the country will almost always be next day delivery, and you get to pick between at least two shipping companies. For selection and availability, pick any local price comparison site, and just order from which ever is cheapest and have the item in stock.