Latch Unlatches Deliveries In The Big Apple

After partnering in July with eCommerce platform Jet.com to install 1,000 of its smart locks on residential apartment buildings in New York City, Latch announced it has completed its first “secure, unattended deliveries” of retail items.

“Thousands of people in New York City are able to order anything they want from our partners online and know that they can return home to their packages without the threat of theft, inclement weather or the dreaded ‘sorry we missed you’ door tag,” wrote Latch Co-Founder Luke Schoenfelder. “This is no longer a concept. This is no longer a test. This is the beginning of what will soon become the new normal in urban environments and beyond. For the first time ever, customers [order] a product online, a delivery person shows up at their building, uses their unique credential to open the door to the building lobby and sets the package inside.”

Schoenfelder went on to explain that it took the company more than four years to perfect the experience for customers, which included countless hours of product research and millions of dollars in development.

According to news from TechCrunch, some of those development dollars have been spent in part by funding installations of the smart lock hardware, which has helped the company convince apartment owners to make the upgrade.

“Our system is designed so that anyone can use it without special training, making Latch adoption by residents, building owners and new service partners quick and easy,” stated Schoenfelder. “The simplicity of this product experience and the depth of our partnerships with leading companies in both eCommerce and logistics mean that we can quickly activate new capabilities and new experiences for everyone in our ecosystem at a national scale.”

And for Latch, this week’s launch is only the beginning: “We believe these new delivery capabilities will create a fundamental shift in consumer shopping behavior, where people increasingly order more and more products to their urban building (and suburban home) without ever going to a store,” wrote Schoenfelder.