Being able to deliver your products to your customers fast hasn’t always been crucial to keeping them. As long as you can get their order to them within a few days, they were fine and they remained loyal as well. Yet in today’s online market, and with the pressure Amazon is putting on retailers to engage in offering various shipping options, getting shoppers their online items within the same day has become vital to being relevant in e-commerce.
Grocery store chain leader Sainsbury is not taking it lightly, as Amazon begins to expand Same-Day Delivery within the UK. Now, Sainsbury has decided to make a move of its’ own and has announced its’ launching of same-day grocery delivery within 30 areas throughout the country. Its’ goal is to have the service implemented in those areas by Christmas this year. The holiday season is not only ideal to generate more revenue, but it is also a time a retailer can attract shoppers just enough to sway their loyalty from a company like Amazon. In Sainsbury’s case, it’s AmazonFresh.
The Daily Mail article discussed how the new service will work. For all online grocery orders that Sainsbury receives by noon, it’s shoppers will receive by 6pm the same day. The article didn’t mention who will be performing the actual deliveries for Sainsbury, or whether the grocery retailer will be doing them itself. Several companies that implement same-day delivery partner with a Same-Day Courier like 1-800 Courier due to have the logistical and routing expertise in order to optimize on transportation costs. The New York Courier has helped hundreds of companies create same-day solutions nationwide.
Currently, Sainsbury offers next-day delivery on all orders placed before 11pm, as long as a delivery slot is available. This is a commendable delivery option, however, rivals Tesco, Asda, Morrisons and Ocado offer similar services, not to mention e-retail giant Amazon. Moving beyond its’ competition is what Sainsbury is after, and with Amazon’s pace, it doesn’t have a choice. Sainsbury will also offer a pick-up option, which will be ready to pick up from 4pm at stores. This gives shoppers the flexibility of not having to remain at the store so long with fast pick up in case they need to save time.
As same-day grocery delivery will be with any type of shipping, the fees for shoppers will play a part in its’ success. Sainsbury will be charging up to £7 for same-day grocery delivery, yet will offer a membership program that customers can take advantage of to pay less. With Sainsbury’s Delivery Pass, customers will pay no delivery fee for all orders over £40. The pass costs between £30 and £60 a year, which equates to being between $39 and $79 US dollars. Amazon’s Prime membership program is $99, as well as newcomer Wal-Mart with its’ ShippingPass program provides free two-day shipping for $49 a year.
The shift that Sainsbury is making in the UK, is a shift that an array of big name retailers and companies are doing in the US. Technology has propelled online business more and more to the front of the line, right next to physical store shopping. Now, it is only a matter of who can get your online product to your front door first and consistently do it to keep the shopper coming back.
Reference: 7.21.16, www.dailymail.co.uk, Sean Poultner, Sainsbury’s takes on Amazon with same-day delivery pledge
