Google (News - Alert) is apparently planning to offer a low-fee-based option to Amazon Prime for one-day shipping.

The Wall Street Journal said that Google is negotiating with Macy's about the new service. The Gap, OfficeMax and possibly other retailers could be interested, as well, according to news reports. The idea is that customers will find products online by using Google search tools; buy them; and then get them shipped in a single day.

Google hopes to offer the one-day shipping service in 2012, according to The Business-Standard.

“It sounds a lot like Amazon Prime, Amazon's $79-per-year service that offers fast shipping and other benefits,” according to a report from The Business Insider.

The report adds that Google will not follow the example of Amazon, which stocks merchandise in a warehouse. But Google will let users know which one of its retail partner's stores has the merchandise in stock and is close by, The Business Insider adds.

In an analysis of the likely new service, ZDNet noted that, “Amazon doesn’t carry every single item there is on this planet so there is room for Google to improve shipping and online shopping for the rest of the Internet.

Whether Google is interested in replacing Amazon as the online retail king, or try to take back some of the ad revenues it has lost to Amazon’s website for product-related searches, competition between the two Internet brands will only benefit consumers.”

Overall, the US online-retail industry may jump some 12 percent to $197 billion in 2011, The Business-Standard said, citing data from Forrester (News - Alert) Research. Amazon is tops in the sector. The Business-Standard reports that Amazon may have a 50 percent jump in revenues to $50 billion this year alone.

Amazon Prime members pay a $79 annual fee for free, two-day shipping of many items sold on Amazon's website, according to a recent report from TMCnet. As of earlier this year, analysts estimated that Amazon Prime had between 2 million and 3 million members in the United States, TMCnet added.