eBay has acquired U.K.-based same-day delivery courier service Shutl, and will use the acquisition to boost its eBay Now to 25 markets by the end of 2014. Financial terms of the Oct. 22 deal have not been disclosed.
Tom Allason, CEO and founder of Shutl, said the first same-day delivery in the United States has been pushed to September citing “development timelines” with its retail partners.
Same-day delivery service Shutl has had success in the U.K., large in part to subsidies by participating direct-to-customer merchants. But will merchants offset the cost so U.S. consumers can have their merchandise shipped same-day for free?
When it comes to getting into the realm of same-day shipping it’s not about building a warehouse in every state or waiting to see what Amazon does. According to Shutl CEO and founder Tom Allason, it’s all about focusing on your brick-and-mortar store.