Google to test grocery deliveries this year in San Francisco and another US city
Google to Start Testing Grocery Deliveries This Year — Two U.S. cities to start trial of fresh-food deliveries — Google also expanding next-day deliveries in the Midwest
Context & Ripple Effects
This test lands three weeks after reports that Google Express would shut down its two Bay Area delivery hubs and outsource fulfillment to on-demand startups — so the grocery trial is effectively the first product built on that lighter, partner-run logistics model rather than Google-owned warehouses. The Midwest next-day expansion running alongside it shows the retail delivery program continuing to widen even as its physical footprint contracts.
The bet pays off quickly within this coverage: five months later Google moves to same-day fresh-grocery delivery in San Francisco and Los Angeles with a $35 minimum, then pushes Google Express to 90% US coverage by late 2016, and eventually takes the grocery playbook abroad through the Carrefour partnership in France.
First-order effects
- Shoppers in San Francisco and one unnamed second city get Google-run fresh-food trials this year, while Midwest customers gain expanded next-day retail delivery — all served through outsourced courier capacity rather than Google's closed hubs.
Second-order effects
- Grocery chains become Google's supply side instead of its competition: once the Carrefour-style partner model emerges, supermarkets provide inventory while Google owns the interface and routing — the same structure DoorDash and Uber later adopted when they moved into groceries.
Third-order effects
- If the pattern holds, grocery delivery consolidates around asset-light marketplaces — tech platforms capturing demand, contracted couriers fulfilling it, and retailers reduced to wholesale suppliers — which is exactly how Uber's 400-city grocery push and DoorDash's chain partnerships later reshaped the category.
The trend: Retail delivery is shifting from companies owning their own warehouses and fleets toward platform-intermediated marketplaces where demand, software, and outsourced couriers sit above supplier stores.