Amazon Prime offers it's customers free shipping after paying a yearly membership of $79. The idea is quite fantastic--as it encourages it's buyers with a loyalty program with perks beyond just the shipping deal.
Amazon Prime may face competition from outside the ranks of the eCommerce world. The Wall Street Journal has published that Google is in talks with many large retailers regarding a service that would offer fast and inexpensive shipping. It appears that Google may be seeking out partners like the USPS and UPS for a same-day, or next-day delivery service for eCommerce.
Amazon is a default search engine for products, gifts and books for many shoppers who are in the mood to buy or simply research. Google needs to break into the product search market to strengthen it's core discipline. Prime is essentially stealing potential search users from Google, and such users are highly valuable to the search giant as they are driven to click on those little text ads that are the primary revenue source of Google.
