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Pressured by Amazon, more retailers rush for speedy deliveries @ Retail Dive.

…there is now, increasingly, an expectation that retail delivery be fast and cheap. But while the pressure is on to meet this newish expectation, it’s one that arguably has been set by Amazon and its rivals themselves, and not so much by consumers.

It’s true that Amazon has set and raised the bar here, and several delivery startups are operating in many cities to get products and meals to consumers in record time, at least in urban areas.
And while e-commerce put physical retail on the defensive for years, many online retailers are fighting to compete with the emotional, touch-and-feel advantages that brick-and-mortar stores have. Same-day delivery, especially when it’s within a couple of hours, can help give shoppers that immediate gratification feeling.

There are a plethora of startups running in the space that have kept delivery prices sometimes amazingly low—many retailers have reasonable minimum order requirements and otherwise deliveries cost less than $10, which is less than FedEx charges for next-day delivery.

Read more & WSJ article.


For Adafruit we needed to not take back orders and ship same day and negotiate rates with our carriers and have the volumes to get there, we also added same-day in NYC and a free shipping tier that was valuable and didn’t break the bank. This is the new normal, same day shipping and free options in some way, there is no going back, at least not for now.