TECHNOLOGY: From Google to your door

In recent years, the delivery market had been growing slowly and consistently, but 2020 meant a big boom for home deliveries both in frequency and in the amount of the average ticket.

While new companies have arrived, others have left due to their inability to meet the high volume of demand in the delivery pie.

The opportunity for Google stems from the searches that consumers do on its mapping platform.

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Google Maps has become a benchmark for customers to find and discover establishments and services around us, in such a way that we can locate what we need or when we do not know what we want to eat and the options are simply displayed, including distances, schedules, type of products or services, and even the ratings and recommendations of countless users who have already made purchases on certain sites.

What was missing was the integration of the brands to their platform, which would make it easier and faster to order food at home without the need to use an additional application, which seemed remote (or perhaps we did not even imagine it), and now it is a reality. The first company that will start operating with Google is Burger King, who as of this Monday (today) will be able to receive purchases from the search engine in more than 5,000 restaurants in the United States.

Google's proposal is easy: restaurants will be able to receive orders online and the customer can choose if they want to pick them up at the branch they are viewing, or if they prefer home delivery from Maps . When a user searches for the restaurant of their choice, the option "order online" will appear, and by pressing they will be able to consult the menu and start the order, thus avoiding the need to have different apps on their cell phone.

Now, if you do not know what you are craving, through the search engine or with the help of the search assistant you can click on restaurants in general or by type of establishment, just by saying "OK Google search for nearby pizzerias".

This obviously applies to other categories such as pharmacies, flower shops, hardware stores or even veterinarians and home services… the possibility is endless.

What will happen to delivery apps like Uber Eats or Rappi?

Google intends to eliminate intermediaries to place orders at home so Rappi, UberEats would become unnecessary unless they are reinvented.

Currently the applications charge high commissions to both restaurant owners and consumers. People pay a surcharge for the order to be delivered to their doorstep, so the benchmarking work that Google has surely carried out to form its proposal will allow it to come up with a much more favorable offer for both users and users. service providers.

The new "Order online" button will be incorporated into the Google search engine when an establishment has already been incorporated into the service, whether it is local businesses or large chain restaurants. In addition, it will allow customers to pay through Google Pay .

At the moment, Google has already concluded agreements with the delivery companies DoorDash, Postmates, Delivery.com, Slice and ChowNow, in the United States.

The question is, how well prepared will the other markets be for Google Delivery's foray into the rest of the world? Are they going to wait until they arrive and have to react? Or, as is very customary in cases of disruptive offers, that the potential affected minimize the innovative proposal and in the end they do not have time to renew. The Blockbuster or Kodak cases could serve as a great reference lesson.