Google plans to develop Google Base into a full-fledged online retail platform

[mandy]

Google plans to enter the online retail industry in Europe. According to a report from Financial Times, the search engine will further develop Google Base into a full-fledged online retail platform...

Google plans to further develop Google Base to give retailers a venue to offer their products to Google users...

Google is reportedly launching the retail service in Europe because retailers in the region have expressed dissatisfaction with their online operations. Google Base could be a valuable resource especially for small retailers that have not set up their own online operations...

full article: http://www.dmeurope.com/default.asp?ArticleID=14174

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.

Though ambitious, Google’s plan to create a broader e-commerce platform for retailers lags similar initiatives from Amazon and Ebay. UK clothing and foods group Marks and Spencer, US discounter Target and US bookseller Borders have contracted out online operations to Amazon.

Until now, Google had been vague about its ambitions for Google Base...

full article: http://news.ft.com/cms/s/6dd2bef6-b456-1...e2340.html

[regic]

You forgot one! 

Google Base Storms Into Europe

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.

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...

full article: http://www.webpronews.com/insiderreports...urope.html

[Kristijntje]

While some experts say that Google can't succeed in its retail ambitions without a distribution chain, others think that misses the point...

Some industry analysts are sceptical about Google’s prospects and have dismissed Google Base as "just advertising". Another analyst believes that Google Base’s true worth goes beyond just retail and that its "rounded, more complete, approach" will make like tough for companies like Amazon.com and eBay.

full article: http://news.zdnet.co.uk/0,39020330,39258167,00.htm