Online Ordering

For the past few years Amazon prime has held the title of quickest delivery service for an online retailer, but according to this article Google's Express service is seeking to dethrone Amazon with same day deliveries and a cheaper membership cost.

When Xbox 360 was released in 2005, I like many young gamers, begged my parents to buy me one (or influence Santa to bring me one) for Christmas. The demand for the console was so large it was sold out in every retail store I could think of, so I began searching online for a way to purchase the console. After much searching I came across the popular bidding site Ebay where I found no shortage of Xbox 360s being sold unsurprisingly above retail value. After convincing my parents to place the order I immediately felt concerned, we had made a large online payment in hope that the seller would deliver the product even though there was no guarantee they would. Luckily two weeks later my Xbox arrived and now I place frequent online orders through EBay, Amazon, and other online retailers without worrying.

In less than a decade online ordering has gone from a risky bet to a reliable service with guaranteed delivery dates. Today Amazon Prime allows customers to select from a vast inventory of Prime eligible items which have free shipping and a guaranteed delivery date of two days. Having placed many orders using Amazon prime they have never failed to deliver my items within two days, but if they do you can usually get a $10 Amazon credit which is a fair compensation. Another feature I love about Amazon is their return policy. I am not sure what Amazon's return policy is, but I know I can return anything for free and get my money back if I am not satisfied. This is another feature that allows for worry free online ordering that was not available in its early days.

Google's Express service is $95 per year which is cheaper than Amazon Prime and allows you to subscribe to the service only during the holiday season for a reduced rate. Unfortunately the service is only available in a few cities and has a more limited inventory than Amazon. Lately Google and Amazon have been pursuing the possibility of automated drones to deliver small items to customers in under 30 minutes. If Amazon hopes to top Google’s same day delivery guarantee it will likely require a private delivery service. If Amazon delivers packages to its customers privately through the use of drones or other means it must also take on responsibility for the package should it be lost or stolen in the delivery attempt. This responsibility is currently placed on USPS or UPS which have contracts with Amazon that allow for the two day delivery service. Only time will tell if the reliability of Google Express will match the standard we have become accustomed to with Amazon Prime, until than I am happy to wait two days for my packages.