Consumers shopping on hundreds of online stores that use Shopify’s e-commerce platform can receive free same-day delivery from Uber’s UberRush delivery service in its delivery areas of Chicago, New York and San Francisco until Dec. 24, according to Shopify and Uber.
After Dec. 24, the UberRush deliveries will continue, but consumers and participating Shopify merchants will be required to pay regular Uber shipping fees, which vary based on the distance from the participating retailer to the dropoff site, says Niko Downie, business development manager for Shopify. UberRush fulfills orders from a retailer’s stores. For online merchants with no stores, UberRush picks up parcels at the retailer’s requested location, usually a warehouse, he says.
Shopify and UberRush are making all deliveries for merchants free until Christmas Eve to encourage merchants to try the new service, Downie says. “Right now, the free shipping is a really great proposition for last-minute holiday shoppers. Long-term, the real opportunity is for Shopify merchants to offer fast, same-day shipping,” he says.
The number of Shopify merchants using the UberRush service is growing, but Downie declines to provide specifics.
To activate the UberRush option, a Shopify merchant logs into its Shopify account and activates UberRush in its shipping settings. Only a merchant located within UberRush coverage areas sees the UberRush option. Then when consumers select UberRush as a delivery option, the orders are transmitted to the merchant via the Shopify web interface.
Kyle Hency, a co-founder of men’s activewear retailer Chubbies, says the number of online orders specifically seeking the UberRush delivery over the two-day launch period Dec. 10-11 were double the number of shoppers who bought goods at the Chubbies store in San Francisco.
Chubbies launched UberRush delivery in San Francisco through its Shopify store and featured some products for same-day delivery in a holiday gift store curated by Uber. The retailer launched UberRush on its Chubbies e-commerce site as a free, two-hour delivery option for last-minute holiday gift shoppers on Thursday. The UberRush delivery area covers 15 ZIP codes in San Francisco.
“This is our first foray into trying to disrupt the traditional delivery model,” Hency says, and the result may influence whether Chubbies opens more stores. Implementing the UberRush app required no engineering expertise, Hency says. UberRush orders are tagged as such, so Chubbies’ two in-store employees recognize them, immediately pick and pack them, and alert UberRush to pick them up.
Chubbies e-commerce customers who put only UberRush items in their shopping carts see the UberRush two-hour delivery option when they fill in their shipping address information, Hency says. Customers who buy UberRush-eligible and other goods see traditional shipping options for next-day, two-day and three-day shipping.
Customers can track their UberRush deliveries on their smartphones. They get a notice with the delivery person’s name, form of transportation—many UberRush deliverers ride bicycles in San Francisco—and can see the delivery as it travels along its route.
After Dec. 24, merchants will be charged UberRush delivery rates:
- $5.50 within one mile plus $2.50 per extra mile in New York.
- $6 within one mile plus $3 per extra mile in San Francisco.
- $5 within one mile and $2.75 per extra mile in Chicago.
Merchants decide whether and how much of the cost to pass on to customers, Downie says.
The UberRush holiday store shows 40 Shopify merchants participating in San Francisco, 26 in New York and nine in Chicago. Delivery areas include Manhattan and parts of Brooklyn and Queens in New York and the central downtown business district in Chicago.
Shopify aims to expand the UberRush delivery option to more cities and more merchants, partly to give small, locally owned retailers a competitive delivery option as more retailers offer same-day delivery, Downie says.
The Shopify-UberRush program comes as Amazon (No. 1 in the Internet Retailer 2015 Top 500 Guide) expands its Amazon Flex same-day delivery service, which, like Uber, recruits drivers to use their own cars to make delivery. In addition, Amazon’s Prime Now services offers free same-day delivery on eligible items to members of the Amazon Prime loyalty program in 20 U.S. cities representing more than 30% of the U.S. population. Apparel retailer Kohl’s Corp. (No. 22)) and department store chain Macy’s Inc, (No. 7) offer same-day delivery services through Deliv, a startup that contracts drivers to pick up ordered items from stores and malls and deliver them to customers.