Macy's is aggressively expanding its same-day delivery service in more major markets. The retailer plans to compete with Amazon's similar offering and has partnered with online service Deliv to deliver the packages.
There once was a time when retail shopping was synonymous with one word: Macy's. The iconic brick and mortar retailer was the top department store brand for many decades before the birth of the Internet brought us the likes of Amazon and eBay. The death of the department store was soon predicted, but it turns out many people still like buying their goods in retail stores where they can hold, view, and try on the merchandise, and enjoy a full shopping experience.
Macy's, however, isn't resting on its laurels when it comes to the shopper's experience and is now shooting to beat Amazon at its own online game, same-day delivery. The option was recently introduced at Amazon and has proven popular. Macy's soon followed, adding the service in several cities, and is now set to aggressively roll it out in more regions. It is now available in Chicago, Houston, Los Angeles, New Jersey, San Francisco, San Jose, Seattle, and Washington, D.C.
Macy's has partnered with Deliv, an independent service that, like Uber, contracts independent drivers to pick up and deliver merchandise. Macy's has a huge competitive advantage over Amazon in the same-day delivery arena in that it has 886 stores from which to offer delivery to its customers, while Amazon has 50 fulfillment distribution centers.
Deliv CEO Daphne Carmeli explained, "It's very hard to compete with Amazon, but traditional retailers have an advantage in that they already have all of their inventory in place five miles from 90 percent of their purchasing population at their stores. This is one of those opportunities to out-Amazon Amazon," she said.
Macy's charges customers a reasonable $5 fee for the service. Deliv rates are usually about $8, and it's not clear if it has reduced its rate in its contract with Macy's or if Macy's is taking a loss. Amazon loses either way.
