Google Express delivery service comes to Chattanooga, elsewhere in Southeast
For more info
The local home delivery market got a major new player Tuesday with the debut of Google Express in Chattanooga.
The internet giant announced it would expand into Chattanooga as part of its growth into 12 new states, including Tennessee, Georgia and Alabama.
Google Express is an online marketplace through which members pay $95 a year — or pay-as-they-go for $4.99 per order — to buy from such retailers as Costco, Whole Foods, Kohl’s, PetSmart, Payless ShoeSource and Walgreens.
While consumers could go To learn more about how to get started with Google Express, visit www.google.com/ express.
online and order directly from the retailers, Google Express members can order from all of the retailers at once and get free shipping as long as they meet the store minimums.
“Our goal with Google Express is to offer a great shopping experience and connect people with their favorite stores,” Brian Elliott, general manager of Google Express, said in a statement. “Today, we’re very excited to be further expanding our efforts, making it easy for millions in Memphis, Nashville, Chattanooga and Knoxville, and the majority of the population in Tennessee, to get things they need from stores they love — delivered fast.”
Unlike Amazon, which has its own warehouses, Google Express partners with the retailers who handle the packaging. Google Express then works with such carriers as UPS and FedEx to get the items delivered. Google Express won’t deliver refrigerated or frozen foods. But pantry stockers and durables are available.
Google Express enters a market
where e-commerce leader Amazon and other tech startups already offer a variety of home delivery options. For example, Chattanoogans can order groceries through the smartphone application Shipt.
Google Express said more than 70 million more people now will have access to twoday delivery shopping at stores from their mobile phones or laptops. As of Tuesday, Google Express covered more than 90 percent of the continental United States, with plans to reach 100 percent by the end of the year.