Google Inc. is aiming to challenge the supremacy of Amazon.com Inc. by diving deeper into the fast-growing world of Internet retailing.

The Web-search giant is in talks with major retailers and shippers about creating a service that would let consumers shop for goods online and receive their orders within a day for a low fee, said people familiar with the matter.

The effort, which industry experts said could be risky, would escalate Google's budding rivalry with Amazon, which has been riding the success of its $79-a-year Amazon Prime program. The program, which offers shoppers fast shipping at no additionalcharge for many items on Amazon's web site, helped drive a 42% increase in the company's sales in the first nine months of the year.

The competition between the two companies was long invisible to most consumers, with Google focusing on Internet search and Amazon on selling all manner of products and shipping them to people's homes.

But more recently, both companies have waded into the sale of digital media. Amazon has aggressively marketed its Kindle e-readers for the past few years. That device and the company's new Kindle Fire tablet have helped whip up demand for Amazon's large collection of digital books and other media. In the past year, Google has begun challenging Amazon by selling digital media, including books, directly to consumers.

Amazon, meanwhile, has become a destination for product searches, with many online shoppers making their initial searches on its website, instead of through Google. Over the past year, Amazon has consistently handled between three to four times as many product-related searches on its site as Google does through its product-search service, according to research firm comScore Inc.

By developing a fast-shipping system, Google aims to tap into a U.S. online-retail industry that is expected to grow 12% to $197 billion this year, according to Forrester Research. The biggest player by far in the field is Amazon, which says its annual revenues could rise nearly 50% to $50 billion by year-end.

Google's fast-delivery effort also would put it in competition with eBay, which in the past year has acquired companies that provide retailers with an inventory-listing system and with a product-storage and shipping service. It could also find itself in competition with Shoprunner Inc., which runs a fast-shipping program, similar to Amazon Prime, for a consortium of big retailers that includes Toys 'R' Us Inc. and American Eagle Outfitters Inc.

Amir Efrati / Stu Woo

• challenge [´tʃælindʒ] n.&vt.向....挑战；怀疑 (初中英语单词)
• program [´prəugræm] n.说明v.为...安排节目 (初中英语单词)
• shipping [´ʃipiŋ] n.船运业；船舶(总数) (初中英语单词)
• additional [ə´diʃənəl] a.附加的，额外的 (初中英语单词)
• charge [tʃɑ:dʒ] v.收费；冲锋 n.费用 (初中英语单词)
• competition [,kɔmpi´tiʃən] n.比赛；竞争 (初中英语单词)
• invisible [in´vizəbəl] a.看不见的；无形的 (初中英语单词)
• device [di´vais] n.装置；器具；策略 (初中英语单词)
• collection [kə´lekʃən] n.收集；征收；募捐 (初中英语单词)
• meanwhile [´mi:n´wail] n.&ad.其间；同时 (初中英语单词)
• research [ri´sə:tʃ] n.&vi.调查；探究；研究 (初中英语单词)
• system [´sistəm] n.系统，体系，制度 (初中英语单词)
• player [´pleiə] n.游戏的人；选手 (初中英语单词)
• annual [´ænjuəl] a.每年的 n.年刊 (初中英语单词)
• kindle [´kindl] v.点燃；(使)激动 (高中英语单词)
• tablet [´tæblit] n.碑；牌；匾额 (高中英语单词)
• destination [,desti´neiʃən] n.目标地 (高中英语单词)
• initial [i´niʃəl] a.最初的 n.首字母 (高中英语单词)
• billion [´biljən] num.万亿 (高中英语单词)
• supremacy [sju´preməsi] n.优越性；最高地位 (英语四级单词)
• amazon [´æməzən] n.女战士 (英语四级单词)
• rivalry [´raivəlri] n.竞争；竞赛；敌对 (英语六级单词)
• consistently [kən´sistəntli] ad.一致地；始终如一地 (英语六级单词)