The retail industry is being turned upside down by the expansion of e-commerce and the impact of online shopping growth. More and more retailers have their eyes set on getting their online presence established through several channels, especially with utilizing Same-Day Delivery. The service is forecasted to reach $987 million by 2019 and retailers have taken notice. Yet, retailers aren't the only ones racing to take advantage of delivering fast, but also delivery companies that are partnering with retailers that can perform the actual service themselves have jumped on board also. Uber is one of them.

In fact, Multichannel Merchant have reported that Uber has announced the expansion of its' same-day delivery service UberRUSH. Uber once was only a delivery company of people, but now is also a delivery company of products. This makes sense for Uber to strategically implement a delivery model based on a crowdsourcing approach which appears to work. Now, Uber is partnering with big name retailers that need online order fulfillment. The key to Uber's expansion stems from its' application programming interface (API) to its app to several retail and delivery partners, which include Nordstrom, T-Mobile, 1-800-Flowers, Rent the Runway and Google Express.

Uber not only has Google Express utilizing it, Curbside has added the UberRUSH option via the API. Company co-founder and CEO Jaron Waldman said in the article that it was a logical extension of Curbside’s bread-and-butter offering, giving retailers more options for fast delivery. For instance, someone could order an item for pickup from Curbside, change their mind for whatever reason and have it delivered via Uber.

Waldman mentioned further in the article, “This was driven by interest from our retail partners, one in particular who was very focused on Uber. With the growing interest in same-day delivery for retail, integrating the UberRUSH API into our core offering is a seamless way to hook into a fantastic same-day offering for consumers. If you save 10 minutes for customers by extending our store pickup option in this way, it’s pretty powerful.” Target, Best Buy, CVS and Walgreens are clients of Curbside as well.

Uber talked about how it is looking forward to what the expansion could do for the company. Uber stated in a blog post, “We’re excited about how (UberRUSH) supports local businesses, but we also know that a lot of companies – and their customers – are looking for an easy way to get items delivered more quickly. Many companies rely on automated operations, have complex logistics networks or are in need of a more flexible solution that can fit their business and customers’ needs.”

Same-day delivery is certainly going to continue to flourish, and one reason is that online shopping is expected to climb to $500 billion by 2018. Uber is only one delivery company looking to partner with retailers to implement same-day delivery. A-1 Express is a Same-Day Courier that has already multiple retailers and businesses nationwide, successfully in assisting them in establishing a sound same-day delivery solution. This Boston Courier has the logistical expertise to take online businesses into several big city US markets quickly. With its' driver fleet and experience, any retailer can trust A-1 Express as a superior, one-stop source to get deliveries performed fast and on time.

Reference: 3.2.16, Multichannel Merchant, Mike O'Brien, UberRUSH Gains Retail Partners with New Same-Day Delivery API