Google Express launches home delivery service in Chattanooga

October 25, 2016 at 11:12 a.m. | Updated October 26, 2016 at 8:20 a.m.

by Staff Report

FILE - This Oct. 20, 2015, file photo, shows a sign outside Google headquarters in Mountain View, Calif. Authorities have arrested a Northern California man suspected of attacking the headquarters of Internet search giant Google with Molotov cocktails and a gun. Mountain View police arrested Raul Diaz on the company's campus shortly after midnight Thursday, June 30, 2016. The 30-year-old is charged with one count of arson in connection with an attempted firebombing of a Google vehicle used to map streets. Authorities are investigating whether the 30-year-old is connected to two other attacks, including the torching a company self-driving car and the shooting out of office windows. (AP Photo/Marcio Jose Sanchez, File)
FILE - This Oct. 20, 2015, file photo, shows a sign outside Google headquarters in Mountain View, Calif. Authorities have arrested a Northern California man suspected of attacking the headquarters of Internet search giant Google with Molotov cocktails and a gun. Mountain View police arrested Raul Diaz on the company's campus shortly after midnight Thursday, June 30, 2016. The 30-year-old is charged with one count of arson in connection with an attempted firebombing of a Google vehicle used to map streets. Authorities are investigating whether the 30-year-old is connected to two other attacks, including the torching a company self-driving car and the shooting out of office windows. (AP Photo/Marcio Jose Sanchez, File)

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 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 two-day 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.

Contact staff writer Tim Omarzu at tomarzu@timesfreepress.com or www.facebook.com/MeetsForBusiness or twitter.com/meetforbusiness or 423-757-6651.

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