Target, looking to speed up its deliveries, will now enlist a team of delivery people rather than just shipping packages through carriers, CNBC reported. The new approach, which has been tested in Target’s hometown of Minneapolis, will focus on three companies the retail giant has acquired.
According to the report, the new system will consist of employees picking up items and packing them at stores. The items will then be transferred multiple times a day to the store’s sortation center. From there, technology from two Target-acquired companies, Grand Junction and Deliv, will be utilized to help group packages for the most efficient routes to neighborhoods. Next, a third Target-owned company, Shipt, will use contract workers to help deliver packages to people in the same parts of town, in addition to the regular carriers.
CNBC noted that the strategy could enable Target to compete with bigger rivals, including Amazon, as customers have come to expect speed in their deliveries.
Target Chief Operating Officer John Mulligan said Target’s new model would better position the retailer to handle the large volume of packages that come through its stores throughout the day. In addition, he said the company would now have more control over the customer experience, making eCommerce orders more profitable.
With contactless not seeming to be going anywhere, Rina Hurst, chief business strategy officer at Shipt, told PYMNTS that companies will have to keep innovating and meet customers’ demands in stores as well as on doorsteps. The firm’s delivery-only service, Shipt Driven, grew by more than 240 percent last year. Hurst noted that two-day shipping just isn’t fast enough anymore — people now expect items to arrive the same day, at a specific time. Flexibility will be key across channels, she added.
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