Google CEO Says Amazon Is Its Biggest Threat

Google Executive Chairman Eric Schmidt said Monday (Oct. 13) that it’s a misconception to think Bing or Yahoo is its biggest competitor when it comes to mobile searches. Instead, he cited Amazon as Google’s biggest force against the company in the mobile search market.

Schmidt’s speech claimed that critics of the U.S. group’s market power are overlooking major rivals like Amazon and Facebook, both substantial players. He argued they do not face the same scrutiny as Google when it comes to political regulations because Google is often referenced as the “gatekeeper of the internet,” despite it being one of many mobile search options.

“The reality is that Google works very differently from other companies that have been called gatekeepers and regulated as such . . . No one is stuck using Google,” Schmidt told critics Monday.

Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg has said the future of his company involves being an on-ramp to the Internet, and Schmidt made sure to pinpoint this reference in his speech.

Schmidt cited the reason for Amazon’s popularity is the consumer’s desire to go directly to the retailer when shopping online. Despite the direct competition, he said the regulatory pressure Google faces is like no other company in the same mobile realm.  This includes the regulatory pressure Google faces in Europe, Financial Times reported following Schmidt’s speech.

To emphasize its competitive relationship with Amazon, Google this week will expand its package delivery service–part of its shopping service called Google Express–and will start charging a $10/month (or a discounted $95/year) fee for unlimited same-day or overnight delivery on any shopping order more than $15, reports The Wall Street Journal.

“Nonmembers will pay $4.99 an order, or $7.99 if the order costs less than $15. Until now, the deliveries had been free. The service, initially named Google Shopping Express but now known simply as Google Express, lets customers place orders online for products from physical stores run by retailers including Costco, Staples and Walgreen. Google said it is expanding the service to Washington, D.C., Boston and Chicago on Tuesday,” the story said. “It previously served the San Francisco Bay Area and parts of New York City and Los Angeles. The company is also adding retailers, including PetSmart, Vitamin Shoppe and Sports Authority and it has begun testing deliveries of some fresh food in the San Francisco area.”