Fast delivery makes waves across business | WARC | The Feed

Fast delivery makes waves across business

Fast delivery’s strongholds are in the markets of Asia and Europe, but the effectiveness of ultra-efficient services is driving behaviours among brands, too.

Why it matters

Across Asia and Europe, with their dense, traversable cities, ultra-fast delivery (15-30 minutes from ordering) is fast becoming mainstream. A handful of new initiatives from startups and established firms seek to understand what fast delivery can do for a business.

In startup land, fast delivery goes premium

• In Berlin, investors are getting excited about a bicycle-based fast delivery company, Arive. Its offer is higher value items including laptops, smartphones and Van Moof bicycles, Sifted reports. Among its more accessible brands are Aesop, the cosmetics company, and LEGO.
• The interesting aspect is that brands are increasingly keen on selling through fast delivery. On Arive, the founders tell the tech website, its average basket size is around two to three times higher than other delivery startups.
• Breathless expansion is not in the company’s plans, but it is aiming for a handful of key European markets. Its pitch deck for its Series A funding round shows how curation, discovery, and high-end service are its watchwords, but its fast-delivery core shows how speed is quickly becoming table stakes.

Deliveroo seeks to understand its own business

• To do so, the London-headquartered delivery firm is opening its own pizza restaurants, the Wall Street Journal reports.
• One of a raft of delivery apps that connect diners with restaurants and drivers, Deliveroo bags and jackets are now common sights on high streets around the country but the dual stream of delivery and on-site service is now causing strain.
• Based in northwest London’s Swiss Cottage, Pizza Paradiso will bring a different texture to Deliveroo’s understanding of customer pain points. The company has operated “dark kitchens” — where multiple restaurants operate kitchens exclusively for delivery in one central space — for some time and operates them on three different continents. 

Sourced from Sifted, Wall Street Journal. [Image: Arive]