Shutl extends speedy ecommerce deliveries to more UK cities
Rapid e-commerce delivery start-up Shutl has expanded its services to six more cities around the UK. The company that offers deliveries from purchases made from the websites of high street retailers in as little as 90 minutes is now operating in Aberdeen, Belfast, Birmingham, Bristol, Cardiff and Liverpool.
The move is the second expansion of the service launched in London last year, with operations expanding to Edinburgh, Glasgow, Leeds and Manchester in August, to give it a presence in 11 UK cities.
Tom Allason, CEO and founder of London-based Shutl, said the latest phase of expansion meant his company would be serving potentially 40% of the UK’s online shoppers.
“We are on track to providing high street retailers with a game-changing delivery proposition in time for Christmas – a key weapon in the battle for market share with Amazon and other pure-play e-tailers,” he said.
Shutl, which is backed by European venture capital firm Hummingbird Ventures, works by linking up local same-day courier companies with the ecommerce activities of major high street retailers including Argos and B&Q Tradepoint, as well as fashion brands like Karen Millen, Oasis, Coast and Warehouse.
The company says it can deliver 24 hours per day, seven days per week, with consumers able to choose from a “Shutl Now’ service to receive an item within as little as 90 minutes, or a ‘Shutl Later’ option where they can select a specific one-hour delivery window on the same day as purchase or any subsequent day.
Rapid deliveries are enabled because web orders are fulfilled from local retail outlets, rather than from a centralised warehouse. Deliveries come with a fee from £4.95 upwards, although Shutl said retailers will often offer the service for free in order to drive conversion.
Figures on its shipping volumes are not yet being publicly disclosed, but the company told Post&Parcel that it was currently measuring montly deliveries “in thousands, not millions – for now”.
Shutl plans on expanding its coverage and extending its services to other high street retailers in the near future.
