More retailers are delivering products on the day customers order them, further raising the stakes in the increasingly competitive shipping business.
Macy’s, which offers same-day deliveries in eight cities, will soon expand the service, Reuters reported last week. The deliveries will be made by contract drivers from Deliv, an Uber-like startup.
Macy’s joins Nordstrom, Wal-Mart and other traditional retailers that are getting into the same-day delivery business. The chains are aiming to leverage their brick-and-mortar operations to better compete with online rivals.
“[T]raditional retailers have an advantage in that they already have all of their inventory in place five miles from 90 percent of their purchasing population,” Daphne Carmeli, Deliv’s chief executive, told Reuters.
USPS also is testing same-day deliveries, part of a broader effort to better leverage its vast delivery network.
Fast shipping can be costly for retailers who offer the service on their own.
Rush deliveries also aren’t for everyone: eBay is ending its same-day service because most customers don’t need its primary offerings — collectibles — right away, CNET reported this week.
Additionally, consumers in recent surveys said shipping costs matter most. “[They] overwhelmingly prefer free shipping over speed,” logistics consultant Satish Jindel told Reuters.