Jet.com Looks to Ease Urban Delivery with Latch Partnership

Looking to clear the hurdle of access to secured city apartment buildings for ecommerce deliveries, Walmart unit Jet.com is testing a pilot program in 1,000 New York buildings that uses keyless entry technology to facilitate delivery when the recipient is out.

According to the Wall Street Journal, Jet.com has partnered with startup Latch to provide free installation of the Latch system, potentially serving 100,000 residents in Manhattan and Brooklyn during the test.

Latch’s hardware and software uses one-time passcodes generated with Jet.com orders to enter a building lobby to drop off an ecommerce order.

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MCM Musings: Delivery of ecommerce orders in urban centers has proven extremely difficult to date, as most buildings have secure entrances requiring a visitor to be buzzed in, leading to repeated attempts and ultimately a return. UPS has taken a different tack, creating thousands of pickup locations in several metropolitan areas, but that still involves stopping at a nearby convenience store to pick up an item. If this joint program with Jet.com and Latch takes off, it could pave the way for many other ecommerce sellers to jump in, and likely technology imitators who will provide a similar capability to Latch.

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