If you were a product manager at Google, how would you design a home delivery system and grow it in Europe?

Thank you for providing such a comprehensive framework for addressing this product strategy question. I'll structure my response accordingly, focusing on designing a home delivery system for Google in Europe. I'll approach this from a first-person perspective as if I'm directly addressing the interviewer.

Introduction

The strategic challenge at hand is to design and grow a home delivery system for Google in Europe. This initiative aligns with Google's mission to organize the world's information and make it universally accessible and useful, extending that principle to physical goods. Our key business objectives will be to establish a strong market presence, drive user adoption, and create a sustainable, scalable delivery infrastructure across diverse European markets.

To address this challenge, I'll walk you through a strategic approach that covers market analysis, product vision, prioritization, execution planning, metrics definition, and risk management. Let's begin by clarifying some crucial aspects of this initiative.

Step 1

Clarify the Strategic Goals (3-4 minutes)

Before diving into the strategy, I'd like to clarify a few key points to ensure our approach aligns with Google's objectives:

• Primary Objective: Is the main goal market expansion, revenue generation, or enhancing the Google ecosystem?

• Product Lifecycle Stage: Are we starting from scratch, or is there an existing foundation we're building upon?

• Target Customer Segments: Are we focusing on all consumers or specific segments (e.g., urban professionals, families)?

• Market Context: What are the current trends in European e-commerce and last-mile delivery?

• Resource Constraints: What's our budget and timeline for this initiative?

These questions are crucial because they significantly impact our strategic direction. For instance, if our primary objective is market expansion, we might prioritize rapid scaling and user acquisition over immediate profitability. Similarly, understanding our target segments will inform our feature prioritization and marketing approach.

For the sake of this discussion, let's assume the following:

• The primary objective is to establish Google as a significant player in the European home delivery market within the next 3-5 years.
• We're at the introduction stage, building this system from the ground up.
• Our initial target is urban consumers across major European cities.
• The European e-commerce market is growing rapidly, with increasing demand for fast, reliable delivery services.
• We have substantial resources but need to show traction within the first 18 months.

With these assumptions in mind, let's proceed with our strategy.