A roundup of news items covering retail operations, fulfillment and delivery.
Taking a shot at “I want it now” offerings like Amazon’s one-hour deliveries, ridesharing service Uber plans to launch a same-day delivery service through its UberRush couriers and Uber drivers, according to TechCrunch. The publication reports that Neiman Marcus, Louis Vuitton, Tiffany’s, Cohen’s Fashion Optical and Hugo Boss are all interested in the service, with more than 400 merchants either in talks with Uber or testing it. … Following successful pilots earlier this year in Boston and San Francisco, Instacart is offering one-hour deliveries from Petco stores in 14 markets. The list includes Atlanta, Austin, Boulder, Boston, Chicago, Denver, Houston, Los Angeles, Philadelphia, Portland, OR, San Francisco, San Jose, Seattle and Washington, DC; the service will come to New York this summer. …Meanwhile across the pond, a three-way “tie-up” among Amazon, DHL and Audi has created a trunk … er, boot club of sorts. Amazon Prime members who also happen to drive the German machines can have items delivered directly to that storage compartment at the rear of the vehicle. DHL drivers will get a one-time keyless access to access the trunk to drop off the package. … As part of $500 million in capital improvements announced last year to increase capacity and efficiency in the wake of major holiday season shipping issues, UPS is expanding three wings at its Worldport air freight facility in Louisville, KY by 15,000 square feet each. … Following similar moves by Sears, as well as Best Buy and Target, curbside pickup is now going high line as Nordstrom is testing it out for online order delivery at several stores, including its flagship location in downtown Seattle. Customers can call or text ahead to have the order delivered to their vehicle. Nordstrom was ahead of the game on buy online/pickup in store, rolling it out in 2008.