Do you need same-day delivery for a sweater or a pair of stilettos? Macy's and J.C. Penney believe so: one is testing the service now and the other is rolling it out to about a quarter of its stores next year.
In late October, Macy's began trialing same-day delivery to online customers in eight major U.S. markets: Chicago, Houston, Los Angeles, New Jersey, San Francisco, San Jose, Seattle and Washington, D.C. Bloomingdale's, its sister chain, will offer the service in four: Chicago, Los Angeles, San Francisco and San Jose.
Delivery costs a flat $5 for orders over $99, while smaller orders are charged standard shipping rates plus $5. Orders must be placed by 1 p.m. Monday through Saturday and by 11 a.m. on Sundays with options for two-hour delivery windows available.
The service will be supported by Deliv, the crowdsourced same-day delivery upstart, in collaboration with major mall owners including General Growth Properties, Macerich, Simon and Westfield Corp.
Macy's said same-day delivery is "built on an operational foundation" that led to the full rollout this fall of BOPIS (buy online, pick-up in-store) across its network of stores, and was mentioned as part of several moves to support its omnichannel push.
Crain's Chicago Business noted that omni-channel customers who shop the web, mobile and in-store are expected to spend an average of $592 this holiday, 66 percent more than those buying exclusively in brick-and-mortar stores, according to Deloitte's holiday shopping survey.
Said Terry Lundgren, Macy's chairman and CEO, in a statement, "Our goal remains to help our customers shop whenever, wherever and however they prefer, and to use the entire inventory of the company to satisfy demand."
On its third-quarter conference call, Macy's CFO Karen Hoguet added that Macy's has "a huge advantage, given where the Macy stores are located and the technology that we have built and have in place to utilize our stores to fulfill internet orders."
J.C. Penney told analysts last week on its third-quarter conference call that it plans to roll out a same-day delivery option in 250 to 350 stores sometime in 2015 although no more details were provided.
Macy's fees are comparable or in many cases lower than other same-day delivery options.
Amazon's same-day service, now in 13 cities, costs $5.99 for Amazon Prime members. Non-Prime members pay $9.98 for the first item and 99 cents for each additional item. At least in Chicago, orders must be placed by 7:45 a.m. to guarantee delivery by 9:00 p.m.
Google Express charges $4.99 per order or $10 a month and $95 per year. Walmart To Go costs $10 regardless of the size of the order
- Macy's, Inc. Outlines New Developments in Omnichannel Strategy and Technology? - Macy's Inc./Business Wire
- Macy's Q3 2014 Conference Call - Seeking Alpha
- J. C. Penney's Q3 2014 Conference Call - Seeking Alpha
- Macy's enters the same-day-delivery wars - Crain's Chicago Business
- Local and national businesses battle for same-day delivery supremacy - Medill
- Google Challenges Amazon Prime With Same-Day Delivery For $95 A Year - Fast Company
- Macy's Sees Omnichannel, Same-Day Delivery as Competitive Advantage - Multichannel Merchant