Swiss Post is testing same-day delivery for a new online marketplace “Kaloka” which gathers thousands of products from over 40 local retailers in the area of Berne, the fifth largest city in Switzerland, targeting consumers who don’t have time for shopping in the city.
Via www.kaloka.ch, Swiss Post gives small businesses without a web presence access to the booming e-commerce sector while offering more convenience to local residents. If they don’t want to look for products on Kaloka themselves, they can use a shopping service suggesting items to them via SMS.
Swiss Post gives small businesses without a web presence access to the booming e-commerce sector while offering more convenience to local residents. If they don’t want to look for products on Kaloka themselves, they can use a shopping service suggesting items to them via SMS.
Through this initiative, local consumers can purchase diverse products from a single source with the retailers ranging from opticians to florists and fashion boutiques.
Shoppers who order before 1 pm on a working day will receive their purchases by 4 pm while the orders submitted by 5 pm. will be delivered by 8 pm.
Thanks to BERNcity, Swiss Post is offering the service free of charge during the first two weeks. Same-day delivery is provided through the environmentally friendly courier service Cargovelo of the start-up “notime”. Those shoppers who have more time can order their items the usual way by post or collect the goods directly from the store themselves.
Swiss Post explained that it started the new service “both to test a new same-day delivery format in the Berne area, and to make its services available along the e-commerce value chain.”
“This allows small businesses to focus on their core business while Swiss Post takes care of, for example, the online shop, packing, and payment collection,” it said.
The participating retailers pay for the service 8% of the total amount of each product sold.
Kaloka will run as a pilot project until 15 September, 2016. After that, Swiss post will evaluate whether and how the project should be continued.
