Browsing the Hyper.co.nz Big Sale today I noticed something very unique. Urgent Couriers offering same-day delivery of Hyper packages, between 6 - 8pm. Yes, make an order and have it at your place by 8pm the same day. I instantly thought, what a great idea.
Most people work a day job and have nobody home to sign for the package. Invariably, packages are left on the doorstep unattended and are open to theft. Or the courier leaves a card to call, then you have the hassle of arranging re-delivery or going to a depot to pickup - the ease of online shopping vanishes.
Hyper (the online Action Sports retailer) offers "Urgent Tonight" for only $9.95. Hyper's standard shipping option is $5.95, which takes 2-4 days, pretty standard in the industry. The extra $4 is certainly worthwhile for this upgrade.. There is nothing to organise, you simply select the "Urgent Tonight" shipping option in the shopping cart.
Of course, the service is only available for orders in Auckland. You need to have the warehouse in the same city as the recepient for this type of service to work. Orders also need to be made by 2pm, to allow time for everything to work.
After a bit of research it seems this service has been available from Urgent Couriers for over a year through UrgentTonight.co.nz. It's a wonder we haven't heard more of it. Businesses need to be signed up with Urgent Couriers to be able to offer the service. But it seems a growing number of online sites are on board. Florists unsurprisingly are heavy users.
Urgent Tonight is great for several scenarios of ordering:
Fast - Doing a bunch of online ordering recently, I was surprised at the wait time for some of the items to be delivered. Granted a weekend was included but one order had us waiting 6 days from payment. A service like Urgent Tonight eliminates this wait when dealing with an Auckland based company, and you are in Auckland. The good news is that
Urgency - Sometimes you just need a product that day. Perhaps you are going away the next day. Sure you could go to a store, but when the product is way cheaper online what do you do when you are at work? You get it the same day and save all the hassles of waiting.
Let's face it, if you save $50 by buying a product online, you won't mind paying an extra $4 to get it fast. You may not even need it fast, but at such a reasonable price, you'd probably just do it anyway.
We think the "Urgent Tonight" Service is a great idea, and one that will spread. Surely same-day delivery would go well in the daily deals market, where urgency is the name of the game.
Whether it will go mainstream remains to be seen. This type of service is only ever going to be viable in large cities. The company's warehouse needs to be in the same city as the recipient. In addition, the website needs to be signed up with Urgent Couriers to be able to arrange the service within their systems.
Interestingly though, Amazon in the USA is doing a big push to bring out same day shipping too. It's a big ask in a country as vast as the USA. But Amazon have a track record of success in almost everything they do. So we may just see same day shipping become standard in the decade to come.
Back in NZ, in an effort to spread the idea, Urgent Couriers even offer a personal shopper service. You save your credit card on file with them, and they can pick up your groceries for you, or do some shopping to your requirements. It's like your own personal concierge service! Pretend you are a billionaire for a day and have them do your all your shopping for you.
Check out Hyper.co.nz
And UrgentTonight.co.nz
