Deliv, a startup that partners with shopping mall retailers to offer a same-day delivery service, has launched in Seattle.
The company, which also today expanded to Houston, Northern New Jersey and Washington, D.C., allows customers within a certain radius of a mall to receive items on the same day for purchases either online or in store. Deliv lets shoppers at physical mall locations drop their purchased items at a kiosk and have them delivered during a certain time frame later that day.
Deliv charges retailers $5 or more for delivery of unlimited items to one address, and uses independent contractors — much like other startups in the “sharing economy” — to physically drive the items from store to home.
The company certainly has competition, from corporations like Amazon, Google, and eBay — all of which offer same-day delivery in select cities — to startups like Instacart, Postmates and Zipments. Even Nordstrom offers its own same-day service in Seattle.
But the company appears to be picking up traction, having raised more than $12 million and quickly expanding to new cities.
“We have created a platform that gives customers a service that is not just fast but is also convenient and flexible,” CEO Daphne Carmeli said in a statement. “It is incredibly strong demand that is pushing us to rapidly expand the offering into more cities and from more retail stores across the country.”
Carmeli explained to TechCrunch last year that while Deliv operates in a crowded space, it differentiates itself because it does not operate a marketplace. Rather, it is the “cost-efficient last mile,” as Carmeli described the company.
Deliv is part of a growing number of startups — some of which I mentioned above — that are using smartphones and logistics technology to improve delivery of everything from people to meals to groceries. Scott Stanford, co-founder Sherpa Ventures, noted this trend back in July when we interviewed the venture capitalist about his investment in food delivery startup Munchery.
“Consumer expectation has changed as a result of greater connectivity,” Stanford said. “When you think about what the Internet did to media and changed consumer expectation and requirements, the same thing is happening to commerce.”
In Seattle, Deliv has partnered with retailers inside Alderwood Mall, Northgate, and Southcenter, where it is also working with Macy’s. The company, based in the Bay Area, plans to offer its service in 30 malls across eight cities by the end of 2014.
