USPS logo LINK — USPS employee news Printable

Rapid retail

More merchants offering same-day deliveries

A computer-generated image of a shopping cart and four arrows pointing upward.
More online shoppers are demanding same-day deliveries — and retailers and shipping services are responding.

Online shoppers want their purchases faster than ever, which is prompting more retailers to offer same-day deliveries.

Twenty-nine percent of consumers are interested in placing orders and receiving them later that day, according to a survey by Forrester Research.

“Consumers are being conditioned to think about immediate satisfaction — to the degree that more and more entities are trying to think about ways to accommodate that growing preference,” economic analyst Mark Hamrick told The Christian Science Monitor last week.

Retailers are working with services like USPS, which is testing same-day deliveries in New York City.

Fast deliveries can boost business for retailers by attracting customers who would otherwise shop elsewhere. Experts say these services are most likely to pay off in urban areas with enough wealthy customers willing to pay to support a delivery network.

Younger consumers also appreciate the instant gratification associated with fast deliveries.

When a recent hangout with friends turned dull, Chaim Osina, a 25-year-old consultant in Chicago, ordered a game from an online retailer. It arrived two hours later, salvaging the evening.

“Did I need it? Probably not,” Osina told the Chicago Tribune. “But there’s times it’s really useful.”

Post-story highlights