Google Says They Have No Plans To Become A Retailer

Despite rumors and recent acquisitions hinting at such a thing, Google has said that they have no plans to take on Amazon as a retailer directly, despite the company's efforts with helping out users with shopping needs. Google's Vice President of Shopping, Sameer Samat, says that becoming a retailer wouldn't be "the right decision" for Google.

Google recently acquired locker storage company BufferBox for $17 million, which sparked some speculation as far as the possibility of taking on Amazon's new Locker service that ships products to select locations, and customers can pick up their packages at any time its convenient for them.

Samat says that the acquisition of BufferBox had nothing to do with becoming a retailer, but rather it was about helping other retailers become more competitive. Google is "trying to provide a level playing field for retailers" and said that there's some companies that have managed to do both tech and retail well, but "how's the rest of the retail world going to hit that bar?"

Over the summer, Google completely overhauled its shopping experience, redesigning the Google Shopping homepage and changing the way users search for items they want to buy. While the move has remained fairly below the radar for consumers, the changes did spark some speculation as to whether the search giant was slowly making their way into retail, but according to the company itself, that isn't the case.

[via AllThingsD]