Kohl's Joins In, Launching Same-Day Delivery In Six More Cities

When it comes to same-day delivery, it appears that popular department store leader Macy's is not going to be having all the fun. Another well-known retailer has decided to make a go of it right before the holidays.

Kohl's released on Monday that it's rolling our same-day delivery in several major US cities in the coming weeks, adding to the list of its' current service areas in San Francisco, the Bay Area and Chicago. NBC reported that Kohl's will add six more, which includes Los Angeles, Boston, Brooklyn/Queens, Northern New Jersey, Philadelphia, and Miami. Having same-day delivery up and running in this time frame will mark it ready for shoppers before Black Friday in November.

"The consumer's expectation is clearly shifting increasingly to the "I want it now" model, and department stores that are able to oblige will see significant increases in sales," said Giulia Prati, a senior research analyst at L2 Inc, citing an eMarketer report. He mentioned in the article that e-commerce sales account for 15% of a department store retailer's revenue. However, this number does spike up during the holidays.

There are figures to back that up as well. According to an August emarketer report, e-commerce sales are expected to increase 13.9% in November and December, and overall sales are expected to increase 5.6% in the same period. Therefore, retailers will miss out on potential sales because more than likely some of those shoppers will want their online items the same day. Retailers can partner with a Same-Day Courier like A-1 Express for quick implementation of a same-day delivery program and the Boston Courier performs the actual service for them.

Koh's is partnering with Deliv to get the new endeavor off the ground. Deliv is a start-up company, similar to Uber, in which it contracts drivers to pick up and deliver online orders to shoppers. Whether from malls or physical retail stores, Deliv will act as a courier for Kohl's, in addition to Macy's now. Macy's aggressively launched same-day delivery late last year for the holiday season. Currently, Macy's has 17 major US cities in which it offers same-day delivery. Other retailers like Google, Wal-Mart, BestBuy, Toys-R-Us, Walgreens, Ace Hardware, and more have a same-day deliver service also.

The front runner that many retailers are competing against is Amazon. The robust retailer not only has an efficient fast delivery model, but also is starting to make it free. Amazon rolled out free same-day delivery in 14 Los Angeles metropolitan cities this year and this could expand into the other cities that it has service in. It services are offered in the San Francisco Bay Area, Dallas-Fort Worth, Indianapolis, New York, Philadelphia, Phoenix, San Diego, Baltimore, Boston, Tampa Bay, Atlanta, Washington DC, and in hometown Seattle-Tacoma.

The expansion of same-day delivery by Kohl's is needed to compete with Amazon, Google, and Macy's that already are meeting the demands of this market. Whether a retailer joins with A-1 Express or another provider for same-day delivery, more than likely, others will begin to launch the service this year too.

Reference: 10.14.15, www.nbcnews.com, Reuters, Same-Day Delivery Wars Heat Up As Kohl's Adds Six More Cities