4. The following describes the competition between Google and Amazon for fast delivery of customer products.43 In 2011, Google, Inc. began to challenge Amazon’s e-commerce dominance by engaging in discussions with major retailers and shippers about creating a service that would let customers shop online and receive their orders within a day for a low fee. This was a direct challenge to the Amazon Prime program that, for $79 per year, offered customers fast shipping at no additional charge for many items on the company’s website.

Amazon Prime increased the company’s sales by 42% in the first nine months of 2011.

Google did not plan to sell products directly to consumers. The goal was to meld its search engine’s product-search feature with a new quick-shipping service that Google would control. Both Google and Amazon had been moving toward similar strategies. Amazon had become a destination for product searches and a big seller of online advertising, encroaching on Google’s territory. Google responded by moving into the online retail industry, dominated by Amazon, that was expected to grow 12% to $197 billion in 2011.

Analysts noted that same-day shipping was a costly and complex business. However, Google expected that the quick-shipping service would attract more consumers to its product-search service. Google had increased the quality of its product-search service by adding user ratings and reviews and helping customers determine where merchandise was available for pickup. Google’s new strategy would also put it in competition with eBay and Shoprunner Inc., both of which had fastshipping programs.

Describe the strategies used by these oligopolists to fight the fast-shipping wars.