The battle over service delivery between Google Express and Amazon Prime Now is heating up this year. At stake for either company is market share and bragging rights. Let’s take a look at both services.
Round 1: The Basics
Google Express is a shopping app and website that offers same-day, overnight or two-day delivery from a variety of stores. Your delivery date availability depends on the retailer and where you live because delivery to certain zip codes might receive orders by end of day or take several days.
Amazon Prime Now offers household items and essentials you need every day plus the best of Amazon, all within a FREE 2-hour delivery.
Round 2: The Offerings
For Google Express there is no annual membership fee, you can choose from different stores with one fast checkout, and you’ll get free delivery on orders if they total above the store minimum. Google Express counts Target and Costco as retail partners and continues to update their store partners throughout the year. Products range from grocery (non-perishable items), electronics, household supplies, health & beauty, as well as home & garden.
Amazon Prime Now is simple to use. This service offers free shipping after paying a hefty annual fee, and products are delivered right to your door, same as Google Express. Just enter your ZIP code, shop Prime Now, a local store, or restaurant, and add items to your cart. Check out using your existing Amazon Prime account and a local courier will deliver to you in the delivery window you choose.
Here’s an interesting example of how Amazon Prime Now works – a businessman was flying out on a business trip. He needed his headphones for an important business call but he forgot them at home. Since his flight was delayed, he went on his smartphone and ordered new headphones from Amazon Prime Now. Within 2 hours, he had new headphones delivered outside of the terminal gates and was able to successfully conduct his conference call.
Round 3: The Ordering System
Google Express customers can purchase items using the Google Express app, website or with voice search using Google Home. What’s in it for the retailer? It provides them with an opportunity to be a part of a quickly growing online marketplace that is known as Google Shopping Actions on the retailer/brand side.
Consumers are able to shop using different devices – smartphone, tablet, desktop computer or AI-powered personal assistant via Google Home. People with purchasing power want choices and Google Express can offer that. Google Express is user-friendly, simple to navigate and has a customer service department, should you need help.
How does Amazon Prime compare? You can order from your computer, mobile app or by voice search through Alexa via Amazon Echo.
Round 4: The Extras
With Amazon’s acquisition of Whole Foods, customers can now order online from thousands of products including fresh and organic produce, meat, seafood, breads and baked goods, and much more.
Round 5: The Bottom Line
The main difference between the two Is that Google Express focuses on shopping by merchant rather than by item. Google Express also offers loyalty rewards programs for retailers as well as email opt-in for email marketing. Some may find those offerings limited. However, from a consumer standpoint, the more choices we have the better! Having both Google Express and Amazon Prime Now to choose from means that customers can evaluate pricing, check stock and evaluate delivery options between the two.
From a business perspective, you’ll want to make sure that your team implements best practices regarding Google Express. Additionally, if you need help with optimizing your product feed, Feedonomics has great solutions for Amazon sellers.
At this point in the game, it’s hard to say who is the clear winner. There are pros and cons for each one but at the end of the day, the consumer will decide.
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Brian Roizen is the Cofounder and Chief Architect of Feedonomics, a full-service feed optimization platform that optimizes product data for hundreds of channels. He has been featured on numerous podcasts and eCommerce webinars, and regularly contributes to Search Engine Land and other industry-leading blogs. Brian graduated summa cum laude from UCLA with both a Bachelor’s and Master’s degree in Mechanical Engineering.
