The quick and the late: Testing same-day delivery
67 views · Published 6 October 2018 · 2:13 · Indexed 25 September 2026
Channel: AP Archive · 2018 · News & Politics
(1 Oct 2018) Same-day delivery promises the tantalizing convenience of online ordering with nearly the same immediacy of store buying. But how well are stores pulling it off? Associated Press retail reporter Anne D'Innocenzio settled on her couch and spent a Friday trying several different services, from traditional retailers to online-only merchants. On the list: Items like eyeshadow, a book, a Roku stick, even a bottle of red wine to go with that most familiar of all quick delivery items _ a pizza. Some stores did better than others. Amazon Prime Now, Instacart and FoodKick all delivered my items within a certain time frame. At the other end of the spectrum were some doozies. One delivery _ Bobbi Brown eye shadow from online luxury purveyor Net-a-Porter _ didn't arrive at all. Ordering from Barnes & Noble included glitches both on the website and on the app, and a book that didn't come until nearly 9 p.m. Here's her take on what went well _ and what didn't. EASE OF ORDERING: Using the Amazon Prime app on my phone was probably the quickest experience of those I tried. I ordered four items _ socks, a vegetable spiralizer, calcium pills and a case of bottled water _ and it took just two minutes. The most cumbersome experience was with Barnes & Noble. I started on the app at 10 a.m. to order Kristin Hannah's novel "Winter Garden," but kept encountering a glitch when I tried to insert my address. After three tries, I switched to my computer, but I had a similar problem there too. I called customer service a little after 11 a.m., and 24 minutes later I placed the order. I could have walked to the local Barnes & Noble store and bought the book quicker than that! DELIVERY: Only four of the seven retailers including the pizza parlor offered a specific time frame for delivery. Knowing when something will arrive really helps. I didn't think I'd be waiting around in my apartment for 11 hours. Amazon Prime, Instacart and FoodKick, owned by FreshDirect, all promised to deliver between 2 p.m. and 4 p.m. All three came in that period. I had a nice experience at Best Buy, too, receiving the Roku stick a little after 2 p.m. when I was told it would arrive by 9 p.m. Net-a-Porter said my eyeshadow would come by 7 p.m. At 6:52 p.m., I called for an update and was told there was a problem with the order, and I would get it tomorrow. I was told that the computer system was confused by the apostrophe in my last name, and so my order was put on hold, without my getting any updates. No thanks! I canceled the order. It would have been nice for them to alert me earlier that there was an issue. As for Barnes & Noble, the customer service representative on the phone couldn't give me a delivery time. At 7:05 p.m., I got a text saying the book was on a truck in New Jersey and heading toward me. It arrived around 9 p.m. _ still the same day, after all. FEES: The highest was at Net-a-Porter, which charged $27.22 including the flat delivery charge of $25 and other fees. I guess if I were ordering a $500 dress, it wouldn't matter. But I was ordering eyeshadow that cost about $76. Instacart's delivery fee _ $11.99 _ was also high, bringing the total cost of my chips and guacamole to $26.16. The delivery charge is based on customer demand for the delivery window you request. Barnes & Noble's delivery fee was just $3.99, while Best Buy's was $5.99. Amazon Prime waived the delivery fee because my order came to more than $35. FoodKick also didn't charge a fee because my red wine and pesto totaled $22.13, above the $20 minimum for free delivery. Find out more about AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/HowWeWork Twitter: https://twitter.com/AP_Archive Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/APArchives Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/APNews/ You can license this story through AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/metadata/youtube/e04b05611f7b9179625a9d5073c8d52b
