Google unveils subscription plan for same-day ‘Express’ delivery service, as it arrives in 3 more cities

Google started trialling a same-day delivery service in San Francisco back in early 2013 called Google Shopping Express, before it was opened to everyone in the city later in the year. Now, five months after an expansion that brought parts of Los Angeles and New York into the fold, Google has announced that Chicago, Boston, and Washington, DC are now on board. Oh, and the service is no longer free either.

Groceries on-demand

To recap, Google Shopping Express brings groceries and other purchases from local stores to your door at a time that is convenient to you that day, and orders can be made via Google’s Android and iOS apps, as well as through the Web.

While the service was once free, Google has also unveiled a new Express membership, which works similar to Amazon Prime, bringing same-day or overnight delivery on eligible orders of more than $15, as well as ‘first dibs’ on delivery windows. The membership costs $95 per year or $10 per month. If that commitment’s too punchy, you can pay $4.99 per order, though this garners an additional $3 fee if alcohol is in your basket – the booze offering has only just opened to those in the Bay Area, however.

Interestingly, memberships can be shared with someone else in your house too, so this could work out as a really good deal if you and your flatmate club together.

To coincide with the launch, the official name of the service has also been truncated to simply ‘Google Express,’ and a number of new retailers have been added too, including 1-800-Flowers, Barnes & Noble, Nine West and other regional merchants.