Same-day delivery is going to help separate omnichannel players from pretenders
Sears Holdings is adding some of its own fare to its mygofer.com offering, an online grocery service that "turbo-charges brick-and-mortar retailer assortments by allowing customers to get items from those stores where and when they want them in new, convenient ways."
"At mygofer, your list is our command," Sears tells shoppers on its website. "Shop with us for your prescriptions, groceries, beauty products, clothes, shoes, electronics and a whole lot more you might not expect. So whatever's on your list, we can help you get it — with incredible speed and no hassles. That's convenience."
Convenience. That's what today's shoppers are looking for in their omnichannel shopping ventures, at least according to a recent PWC report outlining the omnichannel opportunity. According to a PWC survey, the convenience of shopping whenever they want was cited by 28% of shoppers as one of the principle reasons behind shopping online. Following that ability to shop at anytime from anywhere, reasonable pricing, free and fast delivery and the wide range of products from which to choose were the next factors on their list of reasons to shop one online site over another.
Free and fast delivery for retailers coming out of a strong brick-and-mortar heritage may not be too far a stretch to make. Shutl on Tuesday announced the official launch of its North American operation — a service that will enable omnichannel retailers to offer same-day delivery of online orders in large urban centers like New York, San Francisco and Chicago.
"The ecommerce industry is about to take another giant step forward with the launch of Shutl's innovative delivery solution," stated Steven Chien, Shutl VP and general manager North America. "Shutl will be a great partner for those multi-channel retailers looking to better compete with Amazon and provide new ways to delight their customers."
"For those who offer an omnichannel shopping experience to the consumer, the consumer actually spends more with that retailer," observed Lisa Feigen Dugal, PwC's U.S. retail and consumer sector advisory leader, in an interview for DSN's omnichannel cover story in February. "Omnichannel provides the consumer with even more options than they've ever had before both for buying and researching," she suggested.
And now that same-day delivery is more and more looking like a realistic point of differentiation, the race to capture that bigger marketbasket is on.