Google and Barnes & Noble share a common rival in Amazon—and now they’re teaming up to take it on. From today, the duo will be offering a same-day book shipping service in select areas of the U.S..
TheNew York Times reportsthat the expedited delivery process will allow customers in Manhattan, West Los Angeles and the San Francisco Bay Area to get same-day deliveries from local Barnes & Noble stores through Google Shopping Express. Customers can already order goods from stores like Costco, Walgreens, Staples and Target through Google’s service.
https://gizmodo.com/google-just-brought-me-a-single-bag-of-cookies-and-im-s-1572011683
According to Barnes & Noble, the move is an “attempt to link the digital and physical.” It’s also, presumably, an attempt to invigorate its stagnating brick-and-mortar business, which has seen 63 closures over the last five years.
Regardless of motivation, though, the grab for part of Amazon’s market is a bold one that can only be a good thing for consumers. Whether it can actually make a dent in the digital commerce juggernaut that is Bezos & Co., though? That remains to be seen. [NYT]
