Monthly Archives: December 2016

Amazon Completes First Drone Delivery in England

Amazon has reached an unmatched pinnacle for Same-Day Delivery, as now the e-retail leader has officially completed its’ first drone delivery.

Fox News released an article discussing the first delivery for Amazon Prime Air via drone in Cambridge, England. It appears that drones won’t be used to shipping any heavy items. The delivery comprised of an Amazon Fire TV and some popcorn, which weighed less than 5 pounds.  The total time of delivery was only 13 minutes, which is beyond impressive, but revolutionary.  Amazon says that drones will only take 30 minutes to deliver its’ packages.  In light of what most retailers do in their shipping time frames, 30 minutes will shift many shoppers to getting their items online, instead of stores.

Globally, we are already seeing glimpses of how attractive online retail is becoming. For example, China’s mall traffic decreased in as more November, being that wealthier shoppers are saving their time and enjoy the level of convenience it brings.  This is during the busiest shopping season of the year, which is consistently the most profitable season for malls.  In contrast, China’s largest e-retailer Alibaba, made $18 billion in one day.  Alibaba doesn’t use drones, but does have a robust online retail operation, even offering a same-day delivery option.

Amazon is the largest e-retailer in the US and is expanding at a high rate, utilizing fast delivery options to attract customers as well.  Amazon Prime is a free service in a total of 27 major US cities, which include cities like San Francisco Bay Area, San Diego, Seattle-Tacoma, Dallas-Fort Worth, Boston, New York, Chicago, Indianapolis, Baltimore, Washington DC, Nashville, Raleigh, Tucson, Atlanta, Orlando, and Tampa. Amazon has even crossed borders, venturing into Canada and has launched free same-day delivery in Toronto and Vancouver as well.

“One day, seeing Prime Air vehicles will be as normal as seeing mail trucks on the road,” Amazon says.  It appears inevitable that Amazon will be using drones in every major city in the US, eventually worldwide.  This means drone delivery will cross over into other industries and more business will be found following the pattern of success by Amazon.  The question is how will it affect physical stores and will they make the adjust into moving product via e-commerce.  It’s clear that every business will have to begin putting a heavier focus on convenience shopping and meeting the demand of it.

Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos tweeted the success of the retailer’s first drone flight, which actually took place on December 7th.  It was guided by GPS and flies no higher than 400 feet.  It was noted that Amazon is very careful with its’ drones use in inclement weather, such as no flying them in rain, snow, or ice, as well as flying in separate air spaces to avoid planes. The article also mentioned that Amazon only has a few customers in the UK that is privy to using them, yet, the e-retail giant hopes to expand to a larger demographic there.

To keep pace with fast delivery, companies can partner with a Same-Day Courier like 1-800 Courier to implement a same-day logistics solutions quickly.  The San Diego Courier has a national footprint and able to deliver in major US cities for retailers, as they compete with Amazon.

Reference:  12.14.16, Fox News, Lulu Chang, From high-flying dream to reality: Amazon fulfills its first order using a drone

Carriers Announce Shipping Deadlines, Same-Day Delivery Is Another Option

When the time comes for Same-Day Delivery to impact the carrier industry, it will. Yet for now, it is only fully moving and expanding within the retail industry.  It is what companies like Amazon, Google, BestBuy, and more have all embraced, making it a viable shipping option during this holiday shopping season.  Either way, carriers are not getting their shipping time frames to be performed as fast as same-day delivery primarily.  Their focus for the holiday season is to ensure that they are accurate on and before Christmas.

The USPS, FedEx and UPS have all announced their respective shipping deadlines for retailers and shoppers to get their packages delivered by the biggest holiday of the year.  Yahoo recently talked about how FedEx, UPS and others have all made public their shipping deadlines in order for shoppers to know the shipping options that are at their disposal.  With only two weeks before Christmas, consumers are likely to prepare now and place their orders so their holiday gifts can arrive on time.  For Christmas, Hanukkah and Kwanzaa, shoppers are going to be buying and shipping more than in 2015.

The article mentioned how the carrier package forecasts confirms the growth in retail will result in an increase in packages shipped this year.  FedEx expects to ship 25 million packages on peak days during the holiday season.  UPS predicts it will deliver over 700 million packages between Black Friday and New Year’s Eve, which is 14% growth from 2015.  Also, the US Postal Service expects to deliver 750 million packages this holiday season, resulting in a 12% spike up from 2015 and the carrier has guaranteed domestic deliveries by Christmas.

FedEx, UPS and the USPS shipping deadline dates are below:

FedEx
Dec. 16 — Last day to ship FedEx Ground and FedEx Home Delivery
Dec. 19 — Last day to ship FedEx Express Saver
Dec. 21 — Last day to ship FedEx 2Day A.M and FedEx 2Day
Dec. 22 — Last day to ship FedEx Standard Overnight, FedEx Priority Overnight, and FedEx First Overnight.
Dec. 23 — FedEx Same-Day City
Dec. 25 — FedEx Same-Day and FedEx Same-Day City
Also, FedEx First Overnight, FedEx Priority Overnight, and FedEx 2Day will make deliveries on December 24th.  A $16 Saturday delivery fee will apply per package.

UPS
Dec. 19 — Last day to ship via UPS 3 Day Select to be delivered before Christmas Day (delivery on Friday, Dec. 23).
Dec. 21 — This is the last day to ship all UPS 2nd Day Air packages to be delivered before Christmas Day (delivery on Friday, Dec. 23).
Dec. 22 — Last day to ship all UPS Next Day Air packages to be delivered on Friday
Dec. 23 — This is the last day to ship all UPS 2nd Day Air packages to be delivered before Christmas Day, which must use the Saturday delivery option for delivery on Saturday, Dec. 24

USPS
Dec. 15 – Last day for USPS Retail Ground. Ground service for less-than-urgent deliveries and oversized packages.
Dec. 20 – First-Class Mail. Service for standard-sized, single-piece envelopes and small packages weighing up to 13 ounces with delivery in 3 business days or less.
Dec. 21 – Priority Mail. Domestic service in 1, 2 or 3 business days based on where the package is mailed and where it’s being sent, variety of flat-rate options.
Dec. 23 – Priority Mail Express. Fastest domestic service, guaranteed overnight scheduled delivery to most locations.  Some restrictions and exceptions apply.

FedEx does have it’s Same-Day and Fed-Ex Same-Day City according to their deadline dates will be operating.  It shows that carriers are slowly creating a competency for same-day delivery.  However, if retailers and shoppers are looking for a delivery source where fast delivery is their expertise, a viable option is a Same-Day Courier like 1-800 Courier to get their holiday packages delivered fast.  The Chicago Courier has just the right solutions for the holidays to get in-store and online orders delivered by Christmas.

Reference: 12.5.16, Yahoo Finance, Brittany Jones-Cooper, Holiday shipping deadlines for UPS, FedEx and major retailers

Same-Day Delivery Is Changing the Way Automakers Think

Automakers have not just sat back and watched Amazon utilize Same-Day Delivery for growth.  Toyota, BMW and Fiat Chrysler have all jumped into same-day delivery and seeing all of the benefits operationally the higher level of service it brings with it.

Customers know when they are getting the best from dealerships and same-day part deliveries is proving to be the revolutionary component that will optimize service repairs for car manufacturers in the years to come.  This past August, Toyota rolled out same-day parts availability to its’ dealerships to meet real time demand for repairs.  Faster part deliveries equated to quicker turnaround times from mechanics and better efficiency.  Repair times is the dealership service area with the largest number of customer complaints.  The better the service times a dealership provides, the better overall customer service reviews.

Auto News discussed in an article how although some manufacturers like Toyota are embracing same-day services’ short and long-term potential, some don’t feel the same way.  German automaker Volkswagen is still not convinced that same-day delivery will benefit their business model.  Anu Goel, Vice President of Parts and Logistics at Volkswagen Group of America, stated in the article, “If you’ve got dealers stocking the right parts in the first place, why do you need same-day service?”

Goel has a different philosophy for getting parts fast.  His perspective is to simply ship parts faster and dealers to change what they are stocking.  His solution is the part inventory itself will create a higher operational efficiency.  To minimize costs, same-day delivery must have close-proximity warehousing; in respect to Volkswagen current seven distribution centers, the auto manufacturer would essentially have to add more of them in order for same-day delivery to work.  Volkswagen does offer next-day part delivery and it appears to be what it presently needs. According to Goel, “We are good for now.  With a 1 p.m.cutoff [for parts orders], we can make 7 a.m. to 8 a.m. delivery the next day.  Seven buildings around the country allow us to meet that commitment.”

Toyota has been involved in part same-day delivery longer than BMW and Fiat-Chrysler have.  However, they both appear to be making headway with their respective implementations.  A Same-Day Courier like 1-800 Courier can partner with an auto manufacturer and pick up parts from distribution centers and local dealerships.  The Seattle Courier can perform part exchanges between dealerships, which is another same-day solution that it has developed.  Part distribution services is another same-day solution having the courier pick up all parts from a single location and distribute them to multiple dealerships in a given radius.

Car manufacturers like BMW and Fait Chrysler US being on board with same-day part deliveries, shows that it indeed is workable and at least worth testing.  Either way, same-day delivery is shifting how we do business, establishing a level of speed and convenience that shows no signs of turning back.  More and more businesses, retailers, shoppers, and automakers will all continue to make strides toward seeing how they can generate sales and improve processes with the innovation of same-day services.

Reference: 11.21.16, www.autonews.com, Jim Henry, VW’s Goel: Same-day delivery? Not yet

Same-Day Delivery Isn’t Just for Amazon, Here Comes PetSmart

Taking on Amazon isn’t just Google, Wal-Mart, Macy’s, Best Buy, and others. Now pet retail leader PetSmart has dived into the competitive mix with offering Same-Day Delivery and more services this month as the holiday shopping season begins.

TechCrunch recently reported PetSmart has announced launching same-day delivery in several major US cities this month.  The cities will include Dallas, Houston, Philadelphia, Boston, New York City, Northern New Jersey, Yonkers, and Washington DC.  The new service will allow shoppers to buy food, litter, over-the-counter medicines, grooming supplies, bedding, toys, and treats.  PetSmart’s initiative makes sense as many retailers are making adjustments online to slow down Amazon, which has mounted a robust same-day program that spans 27 US markets nationwide.

Amazon’s Prime Now consists of big cities such as San Francisco Bay Area, San Diego, Seattle-Tacoma, Dallas-Fort Worth, New York, Boston, Chicago, Indianapolis, Tampa Bay, Baltimore, Washington DC, Nashville, Raleigh, Richmond, Tucson, Atlanta, Orlando, and more.  In addition to the US, Amazon recently rolled out same-day delivery in Vancouver and Toronto.  What is making Amazon’s same-day delivery difficult to contend with is the service is free for Prime members.  This alone has compelled retailers like PetSmart to shift from traditional warehousing and focus on faster online order fulfillment.

PetSmart’s same-day service won’t be free.  It’s service fee will be $7.99, far from the cost of Amazon’s same-day delivery.  Crowdsourcing logistics provider Deliv is who PetSmart is partnering with to perform the actual deliveries in these cities.  Deliv has same-day delivery in 17 US markets, therefore, more will probably follow for PetSmart.  The more cities PetSmart can expand to, the more options it can provide its’ online customers, which is what makes last-mile delivery so attractive to today’s e-commerce consumers.

To match it’s new same-day program, PetSmart has overhauled its’ website, implementing the changes that make shopping via mobile devices easy.  Online retail is the platform which more and more shoppers are using because its’ so convenient.  From the comfort of their home of coffee shop, they can capitalize on any great deal they find online and have it shipped where they need it, instead of having to go pick it up themselves.

“Our omnichannel strategy is aimed at giving pet parents options tailored to their needs and desires,” said Eran Cohen, PetSmart’s chief customer experience officer regarding the new launch.  He went on the say, “We look forward to seeing their response to the new site with its new user experience and commerce-meets-content approach, as well as to our expanded and convenient home delivery options, which capitalize on our extensive store network for same-day and scheduled delivery”.

This is what is becoming more than just a trend for retailers and businesses.  Same-day delivery allows physical store companies to give their product more of an opportunity to sell.  Just as PetSmart has partnered with Deliv, a Same-Day Courier like 1-800 Courier can do the same for any company competing with Amazon.  They offer last-mile delivery services right away.  The Washington DC Courier has the courier base and expertise to implement same-day delivery nationwide.  1-800 Courier can help PetSmart, as well as other companies, expand this holiday season and beyond.

Reference:  11.7.16, www.techcrunch.com, Sarah Perez, PetSmart takes on Amazon with launch of same-day delivery and subscriptions