Same-Day Delivery a Gift to Holiday Shoppers
The omnichannel is evolving further this holiday season, as online shoppers will be able take advantage of same-day delivery at several large retail chains as well as several malls. The idea is to combine the benefits of e-commerce — 24 hour availability and convenience — with those of brick and mortar — namely, immediate gratification.
Online ordering and same day delivery helps retailers compete against Amazon.
Two retailers, Macy’s and Bloomingdales, have launched same day delivery for their online customers who live within a 15-mile radius from the store. The solution takes the click and collect model and extends it to delivery. It works like this: A shopper buys online from Macy’s, for example, and selects same day delivery. Macy’s collects the items and brings them to a central location within the mall. A service called Deliv picks up the order and brings it to its destination the same day the order is placed.
Of course, the system requires that either online and brick and mortars offer the same inventory, or that the service is not provided on every item available online. Further, malls are offering this service to their retail tenants as a way to promote foot traffic in the stores; the pleasant experience the customer had online will encourage him or her to visit down the road.
Deliv uses a same-day, crowd-sourced model similar to the car service app, Uber. However, Deliv corrals drivers to pick up packages for delivery, rather than customers looking for a ride.
Deliv offers a welcome convenience to the mall-weary in Chicago, Houston, Los Angeles, San Francisco, San Jose, Seattle and Washington, D.C. It, like a similar service called WeDeliver, helps retailers compete directly against the same-day delivery service offered by Amazon. While Walmart is trying out a similar service, working with third-party crowdsourced services seems to be more economical, allowing traditional retailers to cut delivery costs and giving Amazon a run for its money. But don’t count Amazon out just yet; it is testing its own fleet of trucks for same-day deliveries — and has even experimented with using taxis.
