UK same-day delivery company Shutl yesterday launched a bold move to challenge e-commerce giantsAmazon and eBay with the official start of operations in North America.
The start-up, which offers same-day deliveries in more than 50 British towns and cities byintegrating online orders with local courier firms, announced its service will take off in New YorkCity, San Francisco and Chicago in March, and will roll out to seventeen additional metros in thecoming months.
The second phase will see operations start in Atlanta, Boston, Denver, Detroit, Houston, LosAngeles, Miami, Tampa, Dallas, Minneapolis, Philadelphia, Phoenix, San Diego, Seattle andWashington in the USA along with the two Canadian cities of Montreal and Toronto.
“We shop online because it is fast and convenient—two things that delivery is not,” said CEO TomAllason. “Shutl is bringing delivery up to speed by giving shoppers what they want, when they wantit.” Speaking with CEP-Research last week ahead of the launch announcement, he had commented: “Thisis a very ripe market for us now because we can enable a multichannel retailer to provide asame-day service offering that a pure online retailer cannot match because it does not have thelocal stock that retailers are able to offer.”
Shutl did not yet name any major retail customers or delivery partners for its North Americalaunch, which follows the start of same-day deliveries by Amazon and superstore giant Walmart inseveral US cities last year. However, Allason told CEP-Research that at least one “big-name” retailcustomer “with turnover of more than $1 billion online” would be announced very soon.
Shutl is a branded same-day delivery option enabling multi-channel retailers to offer deliveryof online orders either within minutes of purchase or within a convenient one-hour window ofchoice. The company links retailer websites with courier networks through its technologyplatform.
The company said its point-to-point delivery model is the only one of its kind to have beenproven at scale, having operated “to much acclaim” throughout the UK for the last three years,where it works with many of the country’s leading retailers. Shutl said it has thousands ofsubcontracted couriers on its platform who are completing tens of thousands of deliveries everyday.
The delivery service operates 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, typically costing less than $10 perorder, and is often offered free. A third of Shutl’s orders are delivered within an hour, with thefastest e-commerce delivery to date recorded at just 14 minutes and 58 seconds.
The aggressive launch was primed by last year’s announcement of Shutl securing over $6 millionin funding from investors including UPS, e.ventures and Notion Capital to accelerate North Americanplans.
As a part of the launch, e-commerce expert Steven Chien has joined Shutl as Vice President &General Manager of North America. Chien was formerly COO at social shopping site Kaboodle and VP ofBusiness Development for price comparison shopping engine Nextag. He will focus on spearheadingcontinued growth and momentum of Shutl out of its North American headquarters in San Francisco.
“The e-commerce industry is about to take another giant step forward with the launch of Shutl’sinnovative delivery solution. I’m thrilled to be joining Shutl – there is a clear, growing need forconsumer-centric options and Shutl will meet this,” Chien declared. “Shutl will be a great partnerfor those multi-channel retailers looking to better compete with Amazon and provide new ways todelight their customers.”
