UPS May Go Same-Day Delivery

When UPS begins to study Same-Day Delivery, there must be something big coming in the package delivery industry. Business Insider has reported UPS has made a strategic investment into start-up company Deliv to study the same-day delivery model and see how that market segment evolves. The Strategic Enterprise Fund, the venture arm of UPS, is leading a $28 million funding round for Palo Alto, California-based Deliv. The article mentions there has been non-disclosed investment size, yet UPS will take a minority stake in Deliv and sit in on board meetings as both companies analyze the service.

The managing director of the UPS Strategic Enterprise Fund, Rimas Kapeskas, commented about the strategic investment in the phone interview. He stated, "We don't participate in the on-demand business as much, and the consumer side of this is still a bit of a mystery to us. This is a rapidly evolving marketplace and we thought we could learn more by being close to it." Same-day delivery is definitely worth, not only a closer look, but to devise a plan to brand and implement the service within any company in today's business evolution. Same-day delivery is forecasted to reach $987 million by 2019.

Deliv Chief Executive Daphne Carmeli weighed in on the phone interview also, commenting on the investment from it's perspective. She stated, "We are solving a different problem in the last mile, and they (UPS) are looking to learn that model and looking to learn about growth in same-day delivery as we are interested to learn from their success." Both companies are good at their respective niches and this type of strategy positions both of them to compete against front runner Amazon.

The e-retailer has consistently expanded same-day delivery within the US online market, even offering the service for free is various major US cities. Last year, Amazon launched free same-day delivery last year in 14 metropolitan cities the US, beginning with California cities. It also has same-day delivery in the San Francisco Bay Area, Seattle-Tacoma, Dallas-Fort Worth, Indianapolis, Boston, Phoenix, San Diego, Washington DC, Philadelphia, Baltimore, Tampa Bay, New York, and Atlanta. More major US cities are probably to come.

UPS's interest in same-day delivery may in fact have do with Amazon's recent moves that indicate the retail leader is headed toward creating its' own global delivery network. This would mean that UPS will have a lot on their hands to deal with because a network like this will put Amazon in directi competition with UPS, DHL and FedEx. China's e-commerce is expected to hit $1 trillion by 2020, meeting the demand of 900 million shoppers, and this is where Amazon could launch the new delivery system.

Once UPS learns same-day delivery, it will see the potential and versatility that most companies are beginning to understand it brings. Shoppers like on-demand options, and companies are partnering with a Same-Day Courier like A-1 Express to implement innovative same-day solutions. This Seattle Courier has the courier expertise and nationwide footprint to help retailers and delivery companies compete utilizing same-day delivery.

Reference: 2.22.16, www.businessinsider.com, Nick Carey/Mari Saito, With Deliv investment, UPS hopes to study same-day delivery market