[dorseymike]

With Google Shopping Express & Instacart as well as the Postmates and DoorDash's of the world - I keep wondering...at what scale do these become huge businesses? Especially Instacart and GSX - they have someone go shopping and bring stuff to my home for $4 and for free right now. I guess it's user acquisition land grab + demand aggregation? And then they can go the route of private labeling the best goods and ultimately own the customer and then charge higher prices? They can't possibly make real $ at $4 per delivery, can they?

[BryanBeshore]

These services charge more for the items purchased than what you would expect if you were to purchase them at the store yourself. The $4 per delivery is simply a facade.

[zachlipton]

No, they don't. Google is quite clear that its prices for Google Shopping Express are the same as in store: https://support.google.com/shoppingexpress/answer/3423377?hl...

[silencio]

Google Shopping Express will also use your own Costco membership to make purchases (and I believe they do similar for other store discounts/memberships). I just got a delivery of Frozen on bluray at the Costco sale price of $15.99 and I get my 2% back too ;)

Kind of a shame Google won't charge more for the service. I do not want it to go away. I would pay $30/hr and up if they also did perishables instead of having to figure out how much more random amount I'm paying instacart or other services. I would even use it to replace my Amazon purchases to an extent...

[ajju]

Some do:

Instacart: https://www.instacart.com/faq#inventory-and-prices-q2

Yes, Instacart prices are our own and vary from the store’s price.

Postmates https://postmates.com/help

Additionally, a 9% service fee is applied to the purchase price of your items.