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Foot Locker recently announced a partnership with DoorDash to become the latest retailer to prioritize same-day delivery.
The deal allows shoppers to order sneakers, apparel, and accessories from nearly 1,300 Foot Locker, Kids Foot Locker, and Champs Sports U.S. locations through DoorDash.
"Our customers are at the heart of everything we do, and we're always looking for new ways to make their shopping experience for sneakers, apparel, and accessories seamless and accessible," said Melissa Krauss, VP of strategy at Foot Locker.
Doordash, best known for restaurant delivery, said that in 2025 it became the leading third-party marketplace in order volume across grocery and retail in the U.S. More than 30% of DoorDash's monthly active users in the U.S. shop across grocery and retail categories -- and retailers such as Kroger, Old Navy, Ace Hardware, and Home Depot have partnered with the on-demand platform in recent months.
Many of those retailers also work with other third-party platforms, such as Uber Eats and Instacart.
Foot Locker Joins Amazon, Walmart, Target, and Others in Same-Day Delivery Standards
Amazon, which uses an internal squad of Amazon Flex drivers for delivery, last year expanded same- or next-day delivery to more than 4,000 smaller cities, towns, and rural communities across the country -- while last week rolling out 3-hour and 1-hour delivery options.
Walmart, which supports delivery through independent contractors within its Spark Driver platform as well as third-party platforms, saw 35% of store-fulfilled orders delivered in under three hours in the recent fourth quarter.
Target offers same-day delivery to more than 80% of the U.S. population through Shipt, its delivery subsidiary.
FedEx most recently announced its own same-day shipping service, in partnership with last-mile operator OneRail.
A McKinsey study from late 2023 found that same-day delivery hadn’t lived up to expectations seen in 2016 due in part to capacity constraints caused by the pandemic, a slowdown of funding for new same-day delivery models, and the sluggish rollout of automated guided vehicles and drones.
However, McKinsey cited a number of conditions supporting the potential for same-day delivery services, including a higher likelihood of success in cities with dense populations and within the grocery category.
The consultancy also noted that “very few retailers are likely to operate at a scale that enables them to build their own logistics networks — let alone for same-day delivery,” and much depends on consumers’ willingness to a pay a same-day premium. McKinsey wrote, “Overall, to the consumer, reliability could be more important than delivery speed.”
Younger Consumers May Not Mind Paying Extra for Ultra-Fast Delivery
Recent surveys show younger adults are open to paying that premium.
AlixPartners 2025 Home Delivery Report found more than 60% of Gen Z will pay extra for same-day delivery, nearly double that of boomers. PwC’s Holiday Outlook 2025 survey found same-day delivery is most popular among Gen Z and millennials, with about 30% of each group saying that’s their preferred option for receiving items when shopping online.
In a column for Gifts & Decorative Accessories, Warren Shoulberg -- senior contributor for The Robin Report and a RetailWire BrainTrust panelist -- noted that many independent stores were late to embrace e-commerce in its early days and urged them not to shortchange investments in same-day delivery. He wrote, "Same-day delivery is the new e-commerce and it can’t be ignored.”