Business and Marketing

Deliv buys WeDeliver in quest to become the largest same-day delivery company in the nation.

Competiton heats up in same-day delivery.

Same-day delivery options are now must-haves for retailers, both brick and click. Google, Amazon, the U.S. Postal Service, and even Uber are getting into the game. But one deliverer whose name may not be familiar, by design, today moved a step closer toward its goal of being the biggest same-day option for retailers nationwide.

Deliv, which partners anonymously with retailers to move the goods, has announced the acquisition of Chicago competitor WeDeliver to take ownership of same-day delivery in that market. Deliv is now operational in eight markets spanning the country from Los Angeles to Houston to New Jersey.

“Two-day delivery for retailers has become the norm, but retailers are feeling the need to respond to Amazon and its same-day delivery option,” says Deliv VP of Marketing Ingrid Bekkers. Deliv currently services Bloomingdale's, FootLocker, Macy's, and Williams-Sonoma, along with hundreds of local merchants.

Deliv contracts with independent runners who make deliveries in their own vehicles. The company owns no trucks, operates no distribution centers, and has no app for consumers to order deliveries. Bekkers says Deliv is unique among deliverers in that their service is worked into clients' POS systems, so that the option for same-day delivery can be offered to customers at checkout. The company also will integrate into retailers' e-commerce systems, as it does with Macy's, with merchandise picked up and delivered from local stores. It's had success, too, in contracting with mall operators to service affiliate stores.

“We want to keep the service identified with the retailer,” Bekkers says, explaining why Deliv itself does no branding.

Other markets in which Deliv operates are San Francisco, San Jose, Seattle, and Washington, D.C.

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