More than half of retailers in North America offer same-day delivery, a new survey found—a dramatic increase over 2016.
BRP (Boston Retail Partners), in its latest digital benchmark survey, found that 51% of retail executives said their company offers same-day delivery. By comparison, just 16% offered the service in 2016.
The primary focus of the survey was specialty retailers, with 32% of respondents categorized as specialty soft goods retailers and 24% categorized as specialty hard goods retailers. Nearly two-thirds of the retailers in the study had revenues topping $1 billion.
BRP’s survey results also suggested that the industry is still going through some delivery growing pains. Of the companies that offer same-day options, slightly more than half characterized their service as “implemented and needs improvement.”
Amazon’s focus on speeding up the delivery cycle has pressured big rivals like Walmart and Target to experiment and innovate in the delivery space. Walmart has unveiled a variety of fulfillment services, ranging from delivery by employees to discount-driven in-store pickup. Target last month agreed to acquire Grand Junction, a startup whose technology supports same-day delivery needs.
Retailers in North America appear to be further along than those in other markets when it comes to speedy delivery options—presumably in part because of pressure from Amazon.
A survey by JDA and PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) found that 33% of surveyed retailers in China, Germany, Japan, Mexico, the UK and the US offered or had near-term plans to offer same-day delivery.
