“Hey! There’s a parking spot! Go, go, go!” is an exciting, yet irritating thing you would hear commonly when you visit your local mall. Fortunately with the introduction of same-day delivery services, parking issues, waiting in a long line, and bumping into other shoppers in stores will no longer be a problem.

 

According to Mashable, many large technology ecommerce companies and startups are adopting same-day delivery services as part of their ecommerce services, especially during the holiday shopping rush.

 

Google for instance, released its same-day delivery service, Google Shopping Express, this March in the San Francisco Bay Area and will be offering same-day deliveries on Thanksgiving Day. Moreover, Google will add additional 80 Google-brand delivery trucks that day to accommodate the extended work schedule. In addition, to lure prospects to use its service, Google will offer $10 discount to first-time buyers.

 

Its archrival eBay is also doing something similar by waiving the $5 fee for its same-day delivery service.

 

According to EBay, they “are [now] offering free delivery for eBay Now to help holiday shoppers who are looking for a convenient way to get whatever they need and love this holiday season, delivered anywhere in about an hour.”

 

Aside from ecommerce companies preparing for the holiday season, same-day delivery startups such as Instacart are also adding more couriers to ensure the same-delivery service run smoothly. Instacart, which offers same-day grocery deliveries in San Francisco and Chicago, plans to double the number of personal shoppers available for specific hours during the holiday season. 

 

According to Apoorva Mehta, CEO of Instacart, “occasions like Thanksgiving and Christmas… those seasons are just a great way to get people accustomed to the habit of using a new service because that’s when the need is so high.” Undoubtedly, this is the perfect opportunity for businesses like Instacart to bolster its popularity.

 

However, while companies can leverage the holiday season to attract new customers, they have to face the downsides of same-day deliveries. These businesses have to bear the risk of spending too much on a larger payroll and not receiving the proper returns. Moreover, they have to face the possibility of delaying the delivery of packages and mixing up packages.

 

Although same-day delivery has a few cons, we believe this delivery service is the future of ecommerce. Why? Competition. In addition to companies such as Google and eBay that are aggressively offering same-day delivery, other major retailers such as Amazon and Chapters are also upping their delivery service. For example, Amazon now has Amazon Prime that enables consumers to receive their items in 2 days. Chapters also has a similar service called NextDay Delivery, where shoppers can also have their product delivered to their doors in 2 days. Additionally, even small ecommerce startups are giving their consumers the option of same-day delivery. For instance, The Fancy, a small ecommerce store that sells “high-end and design-oriented home, fashion, and travel items,” now offers same-day delivery in 100 cities across the globe. Moreover, they offer free same-day delivery services in areas such as Manhattan. Undoubtedly, same-day delivery is the present and future of online retailing.

 

For retailers that don’t offer fast or same-day delivery, you have to step your game up. If you can’t offer this kind of fast-delivery services, you simply can’t compete with the other merchants. Assuming you sell similar products as your competitors, consumers will most likely shop with retailers that offer quick delivery services as shoppers want their products delivered quickly and conveniently.. This as a result could erode your revenue and eventually put you out of business.