Google wants to drag the clock builders and chocolate makers out of their Old Europe brick-and-mortar mindset into the gleaming silicon-driven online marketplace, preferably with a Google Base account at the foundation of those efforts; we suggest a partnership that could help make this happen.
A Plan For Google Base And Europe
Can Google revolutionize online retailing in Europe? Does your European business need or even want Google Base as an online solution? Give us your feedback at WebProWorld.
The expansion of Google into the world of online person-to-person sector with its Google Base and forthcoming Google Payments products has drawn comparisons, and dire predictions, for eBay and Craigslist. There may now be a need to bring Amazon into the conversation.
Google Base may begin its e-commerce assault in Europe, where the company’s head of Google Europe told the Financial Times, “Google Base is going to have a huge impact on retailers,” and that many of those retailers feel a need to be more competitive online.
The search advertising company will have a lot of catching up to do in Europe, where Amazon has relationships with businesses like UK-based Marks and Spencer. Google may have to pitch something beyond its online capabilities, though, according to the FT report:
One big UK retailer with no online presence said on Wednesday that Google’s retail offer would be of interest if the internet company could also arrange for distribution. This potentially huge task has raised doubts about the long-term business models of other online retailers such as Amazon.com.
Doubts over Amazon’s distribution don’t have much grounding in reality. The company has built up its distribution network over the past decade and does have some knowledge in the area. Google’s expertise at distribution probably does not go beyond making a change in a router’s access control list and opening up a website.
If Google can address the distribution question for those businesses needing that process, they should have an interested audience. The report said Google claimed to have interviewed executives from twenty of Europe’s top retailers. Google found them unsatisfied with their online businesses.
We can suggest one possible partner for Google should they choose to really get serious about making Base a potent e-commerce solution: UPS. The package shipping company maintains bonded warehouses throughout Europe, which could hold the inventory created by smaller retailers and serve as distribution centers for fulfilling orders made through a Google Base system
UPS has extensive knowledge of supply chain management and already offers consulting for these solutions under its Professional Services unit. The combined brand recognition and existing presences in Europe would permit Google to offer a turn-key solution with Google Base for product management, online ordering, and payment processing, and UPS for inventory management and shipping.
Google has seen its stock slip in recent weeks, and some industry analysts believe Google has reached the value it’s going to attain with online advertising as its 99-percent revenue source. Maybe Google and UPS CEOs Eric Schmidt and Mike Eskew should get together and talk about Europe and Google Base.
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David Utter is a staff writer for Murdok covering technology and business.
