I want it all, I want it now: how to deliver everything, immediately
- David Saenz, COO of last-mile delivery service Stuart explains how, in the future, everything we want will come straight to us — instantly.
- “In the future we expect to see bricks-and-mortar stores become product showrooms.”
- If you could have anything delivered to you within the hour, could you resist impulse purchases?
Supply chains sound utterly boring until they becomes personal. Waiting for a food order or missing the delivery of an iPhone sometimes feel like unnecessarily stressful life events — and the fact that we find such luxuries frustrating says much about our expectations around delivery in 2017.
“Last Mile” delivery — that is, the last part of a delivery to us — is historically an expensive part of the distribution process. But if nearly half of us aren’t prepared to wait four seconds for a web page to load, then it’s no surprise that plenty of people expect online orders to arrive in under 60 minutes.
If you live in city, it’s impossible to miss colourful delivery cyclists darting about, usually ferrying food to impatient, hungry people. Of the many operators in this space, Stuart takes the concept a little further: by building a service which aims to deliver pretty much any product or service within the hour.
And it’s clearly something people want: having launched in Paris and Barcelona, it’s now about to roll out in London, Brussels, Berlin, and Madrid. Investors want in, too: having initially invested a whopping €22M, this week French delivery giant Geopost fully acquired Stuart.
TOA.life chatted to David Saenz, COO of Stuart, and asked what the consequences are when we feed our desire for instant gratification…
Why do we want everything now — and which products work best in this concept of instant delivery?
David Saenz, Stuart: “We are in a society that’s defined by its need for convenience and instant gratification. The surge in ready-made food delivery has prompted the launch of services like Amazon Go — however, the retail sector appears to be lagging behind.
“Research we conducted last year found that eight out of 10 consumers would switch from their favourite high street retailer if it didn’t offer their preferred delivery method.
“Stuart packages up all the features of on-demand delivery so that companies can serve today’s customer, and also offers the same level of service for something else the high street is not tapping into: returns.
“We’ll collect the item within (on average) 10 minutes and have it back to the store and on the shelf that day.
“With Stuart’s platform, retailers can make use of their physical stores and products whilst gaining further understanding of their customer-base.”
How will this concept scale? What other things could be delivered really quickly, and what problems could this solve?
DS: “It has huge potential, and not just for the delivery of that new pair of shoes or bunch of flowers for a late-remembered birthday.
“Take the health sector: we’re now seeing Skype-style consultations where patients have a ‘virtual chat’ with their doctors from the comfort of their home. This is brilliant for people who struggle to make it out to their surgery, but how do they then pick up their prescription? Instant delivery can’t solve all of life’s issues, but it can have tremendous benefits for people who need services to come to them.
“It also feeds the instant gratification that is essential to the feel-good experience of a shopping spree. In the travel industry, services like Airbnb have injected excitement and convenience into spontaneous trips, but imagine being able to have the key to your city pad delivered straight to you at the airport?
“Ultimately any industry that relies on efficiency — and, most importantly, customer loyalty — stands to benefit from this framework.”
At the moment, final-mile delivery is done by people on bikes or in small vehicles. Are we inevitably moving towards a time where these roles might be fulfilled in part (or completely) by autonomous machines — drones, self-driving cars, etc.?
DS: “The rapid development of machine-learning and AI definitely makes the future of autonomous machines becoming part of the fleet more realistic.
“However, no matter what, when it comes to store-to-door delivery, there will always be an element that relies on face-to-face interaction and that wonderful last, personalised touch point.
“As much as convenience is paramount, customers are also looking for a brand to provide them with an experience, and that short interaction at the final delivery point can do just the trick.”
If people’s expectations adjust to instant convenience, will this affect the sales of products that are a lot harder to deliver within an hour? Will our whole supply chain have to adjust to reflect the desire for instant delivery?
DS: “What is key here is the value in convenience, not just instant delivery. At Stuart, our model works for both lower threshold goods, as well as those big ticket items.
“Customers can change their delivery slot anytime up to an hour before delivery — a huge plus when you’ve got a sofa or car coming and it’s essential you’re around at the time of delivery.
“While the clamour for instant delivery might drive a push for more ‘off the shelf’ (rather than especially-made) products, convenient delivery can only add to the quality of the experience for more bespoke items.”
In ten years’ time, what will life with always-available instant delivery look like? Will the idea of “a delivery” change?
DS: “We’re seeing the emergence of a ‘see it now, buy it now’ culture where shop windows, catwalks, and even street fashion will become instantly accessible for consumers to buy. Essential to this fast movement of goods is city infrastructure that can support it.
“While drone deliveries are still quite far off, the main change we expect to see is in the role of bricks-and-mortar stores. In the future we expect to see stores instead become product showrooms, similar to the pop-up stores created by the likes of MADE.com and Dyson. These will act as central city warehouses in which customers can touch, feel and experience a product and then have it delivered straight to their home.
“What’s currently fielding this movement of goods for Stuart is historical data from our current clients which help us map patterns of requests across the city, meaning we’re able to forecast the potential demand coming in and dispatch our couriers accordingly.
“We’re also seeing the emergence of apps that allow users to remotely allow access to their homes so deliveries can be dropped off securely.
“This next evolution of the retail ecosystem is interesting in that it still allows retailers to retain that physical touch point with the customer. Most of all, it demonstrates how delivery will become an essential ‘assistant’ to the shopping experience.”
This interview has been edited for clarity and length.
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