Shares of Office Depot (NASDAQ:ODP) rose 4% in midday trading on Monday after the company announced the launch of same-day delivery in Atlanta, Los Angeles, and the Ft. Lauderdale/Miami area.
The office supply company will offer same-day delivery in the three areas with help from Deliv, a third-party provider. Customers can schedule same-day delivery through Office Depot’s website and request a delivery between specific, pre-set times depending upon the time they shop.
Same-day delivery service will launch on August 28th in Atlanta and Los Angeles and on September 6th in the Ft. Lauderdale/Miami area. Other locations will be available by December. For now, Office Depot plans to waive delivery fees as an introductory offer to encourage consumers to try out the new service.
“Retail is undergoing a rapid transformation,” said Kevin Moffitt, senior vice president and chief digital officer at Office Depot. “Adding same-day delivery capabilities to our growing in-store pickup and ship-from-store programs allows us to better leverage our retail locations as distribution hubs, and serve our customers faster and more efficiently.”
Amazon.com (NASDAQ:AMZN) also offers two-hour and same-day delivery services in select zip codes. Prime Now, the two-hour delivery service, is exclusive and free for Prime members. Prime members can also get the same-day service for free on orders over $35, or $5.99 per order. Non-Prime members must pay $8.99, plus $0.99 per item, for same-day delivery.
Other large retailers have also been working towards faster delivery times. In June, Target (NYSE:TGT) launched Target Restock, a next-day delivery service in Minnesota. Target Restock ships a box of household items to a Target REDcard holder for a flat rate of $4.99 a box.
“The battleground for the customer experience has been focused on delivering speed and flexibility for customer fulfillment,” said Daphne Carmeli, CEO and founder of Deliv. “Retailers are really battling for the buy button.”
Office Depot remains a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold). The company is expected to release second quarter fiscal 2017 results on Wednesday, August 9th.
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