Everything you ever wanted to know about Shutl (but were afraid to ask!)
How does it work?
Shutl is a service that connects retailers with local same-day courier companies. The platform aggregates capacity across these carriers into a web-service which, in turn, links into retailers’ internal systems.
Shutl picks the best carrier for each delivery, weighing up a combination of price and past performance to ensure the optimum service every time. The selected carrier then collects the purchase from the consumer’s local store and delivers it straight to their home or office. Shutl provides tracking emails that enable consumers to track their deliveries in real time on a GPS-enabled map.
What’s in it for the retailers?
Shutl allows retailers to offer consumers cost-effective immediate delivery or delivery at a time of their choosing.
Retailers can use this proposition to:
- Grow their customer base. Attract consumers that might not otherwise shop across their channels.
- Improve conversion rates. Consumers often fail to complete purchases because they are not happy with the available delivery options both in terms of price and flexibility. Shutl eliminates this concern by giving consumers more choice.
- Reduce cost of returns. By delivering at a time chosen by the consumer, we virtually eliminate failed deliveries. There are 94 million first-time delivery failures a year which cost retailers approximately £289 million annually.
- Eliminate total reliance on any single delivery supplier. Since we use a range of different carriers, our service isn’t affected by strikes or the failure of any single delivery company.
Is Shutl only relevant for multi-channel retailers?
Shutl’s service fits nicely with retailers of all types.
For pure-play e-tailers we are particularly attractive for those that have customers within 10 miles of wherever they hold their stock. Anything over that and using same-day couriers can get expensive – although for high value or urgent items it is still a valid option. These are not only the orders of most value to retailers but they are also the transactions that build customer loyalty.
For bricks and mortar retailers we can integrate straight into POS, allowing them to offer shoppers a flexible home delivery service that is particularly relevant for bulky items or for gifts. In the event that a retailer uses their own fleet of vehicles for delivery, Shutl provides an option to outsource this capability to a more efficient delivery network improving quality whilst reducing cost.
How about the couriers?
The same-day courier market has been in decline for the last decade as consumers and businesses send more and more information digitally. The industry is heavily reliant on the financial services sector and has been hit hard by the recent economic crisis.
Shutl futureproofs the courier market by giving carriers access to the significant and growing e-commerce delivery market. Individually, no single same-day carrier is big enough or national enough to handle the peaks and troughs of nationwide demand. By aggregating the capacity across many carriers, Shutl enables all of them to benefit.
We estimate that the declining same-day courier market currently consists of around 50 million transactions a year. The e-commerce delivery market is much bigger; with around 820 million transactions a year and growing fast.
Who uses Shutl?
Everyone. Why would you ever use and wait around for a standard slow and inconvenient delivery service when you could get your purchases sent to you immediately or at a time that suited you? Consumers put up with the current delivery options because they are the only ones available.
Shutl suits consumers who…:
- would normally go to the high street themselves to avoid dealing with the hassle of delivery.
- have to incur a cost when visiting the high street – be it congestion charge, parking or merely time.
- would already be buying online but who choose convenience over inconvenience.
- wouldn’t shop online because they want their purchase right away
Just a minute – I have heard of ‘same-day’ delivery before. Is Shutl really doing anything new?
Nothing like this has been offered anywhere before. It is nothing like the ‘same-day’ delivery service offered recently by several retailers including Amazon. These services, which are only open to consumers in London, require consumers to order before a cut-off time to get a several-hour delivery window that same evening, and come at a fairly significant cost. Depending on the time of the order, this ‘same day’ option can in fact often take up to 30 hours and still requires the consumer to wait around for the courier to arrive. By comparison, Shutl offers delivery in minutes (or at a time of the consumer’s choice) for a cost that is comparable to standard delivery and, in many cases, even free.
Sounds expensive…?
Here’s the best bit. In most cases, Shutl delivery is comparable to the cost of standard multi-day delivery. In many cases, it will be cheaper and can even be offered to the consumer free of charge. This is possible because:
- For many deliveries, same-day couriers are more cost effective than the standard multi-day carriers that retailers currently use.
- Shutl is able to benefit from volume discounts on our carriers’ standard pricing.
- We let courier companies sell their short-term spare capacity, enabling us to offer prices below those which would normally be viable.
- Shutl lets retailers subsidise their delivery cost in the event that they wish to use free/cheap delivery as a promotion to aid conversion.
Who is Shutl currently working with?
In advance of launch we have been working with:
Retailers:
Couriers:
Anyone else?
We are also working with several e-commerce platform providers to build plug-ins that will enable retailers wishing to work with Shutl to integrate it easily. This will enable these providers to offer Shutl delivery as standard for their customers.
In addition, we are working with a couple of major high-street retailers, the first of which we expect to go live in Q2 2010 across their London stores. Watch this space!
So Shutl only operates in London?
Although we are starting in London, we plan to roll out across the rest of the UK in time for Christmas 2010, with world domination shortly thereafter!
