Google Express Adds Same-Day Deliveries Of Fresh Groceries In L.A., San Francisco

Google Express is making good on its plan to offer same-day deliveries of fresh groceries, at least in two California cities: customers in Los Angeles and San Francisco can now order produce, meat, eggs, and other perishable goods and have them delivered by Google within that day.

Google is entering a field with competitors like Amazon, Instacart, Fresh Direct, and Safeway, all companies angling to get a chunk of the grocery delivery business.

Unlike Amazon and Fresh Direct, however, which maintain refrigerated warehouses near cities and then ferry those items to customers, Google will make deliveries using existing retail partners to avoid costly risks like spoiled food, reports the Wall Street Journal.

Google will deliver from Costco, Whole Foods, and Smart & Final Stores in San Francisco; in Los Angeles, it will bring goods from Costco, Smart & Final, and Vincente Foods.

The company will make changes to how it currently operates its delivery service so it can accommodate fresh groceries, including cutting the customers’ delivery window to two hours, down from four.

However, it’s raising the minimum price to get groceries delivered, from the current $15 threshold to $35. If you pay $95 a year for Google Express membership, fresh-food deliveries will cost $3 per order, which is in comparison to the no-fee delivery service of non-perishable goods. Not a member? You’ll pay $5 per order of groceries.

Google Launches Fresh-Grocery Deliveries [Wall Street Journal]

by Mary Beth Quirk via Consumerist