CitySprint service offers one-hour delivery window

UK same day delivery company CitySprint is now allowing consumers to choose a one-hour delivery time slot for home deliveries. The company that describes itself as the UK’s largest same day distribution company, delivering 5m parcels a year, has launched a new service called “MyTime”.

The service means retailers can offer their shoppers the chance to select a specific time and date for their delivery before completing an online purchase.

CitySprint, which has a network of 35 delivery centres around the UK and more than 2,000 vehicles, said the new system integrates with retailers’ existing IT platforms to fit with their current fulfillment processes.

Deliveries in the one-hour time windows can be made to work or home addresses, with time slots available every day of the year.

CitySprint can also deliver items to retail stores for customers choosing to pick up ordered items in-store through “click and collect” systems.

The MyTime service comes with status updates and tracking for orders to the doorstep.

Loyalty

Patrick Gallagher, the CitySprint CEO, said that retailers offering flexible delivery options for their customers were currently those that were reaping the rewards in terms of customer satisfaction and loyalty.

“Customers expect more delivery convenience and putting the customer first is about providing delivery choices which suit their needs,” he said.

“By tapping into our extensive UK network, which can tech over 81% of the UK within 60 minutes, we can deliver to a specific data and time that suits the customer and is excellent value for money.”

In the highly competitive UK home delivery market, offering convenient ways for consumers to take delivery of purchased products is seen as a key selling point for carriers chasing market share.

The new CitySprint “MyTime” feature has some similarities to the DPD service “Predict”, which was introduced in the UK in 2010.

The Predict service gives consumers a one-hour window in which their parcels will be delivered, allowing them to change the delivery to a more convenient date when they receive a notification text or email regarding their delivery. The CitySprint version allows consumers to select their time and date up front, from the retailer’s own website during the purchase process.

DPD has said its Predict service was responsible for bringing in GBP 500m of new business in the UK, with its surveys suggesting that more than a quarter of UK shoppers would rather have timed delivery than free delivery when making purchases online.