With the entire Google setup undergoing massive restructuring, seems like the company’s delivery service, Google Express, is also following suit. Re/Code is reporting that in an apparent effort to restructure, reorganize and revamp the service, Google Express is shutting down two of its delivery hubs in California, located in San Francisco and Mountain View. The service is currently available in four major cities in the US, and was originally launched by the internet giant in 2013 in an apparent effort to compete against Amazon on its own turf, with the online retailer increasingly focusing its attention on product searches in recent years. As part of the service, Google delivers products locally to end-consumers from its retail and shipping partners. The Mountain View-based company experimented with the hub model once it stepped into the Bay Area whereby, customers ordering products from Google’s retail partners would get their goods delivered on the same day or the next, from the two hubs which are now being shuttered if the report is to be believed.
Google Express has reportedly seen its fair share of troubles over the past year, with a number of high-level executives leaving the company for presumably greener pastures elsewhere. Firstly it was Mr. Tom Fallows, who left Google Express for Uber in November, last year. Mr. Fallows brought the idea of Google Express to fruition in 2013, and was leading the company at the time of his unexpected departure. Then last May, it was the turn of the former boss of Mr. Fallows, Mr. Sameer Samat, who was vice president of Google Shopping, when he left the company to join Jawbone as the president of the health-tracking smart wearable maker. It was only last month, when Google appointed Mr. Brian Elliott as the general manager of Google Express, before which, he was a lead on business development of its Shopping unit since 2013.
It is worth remembering that Google just recently underwent a massive restructuring of the entire organization earlier this month, which saw it gain a parent company by the name of Alphabet. While Google remains the company in charge of all of the internet and related assets of the company including search, maps, ads and Android, all its non-core businesses were spun off into distinct entities under the newly-formed holding company.