We live in a culture of instant gratification. For many of us, it’s second nature to hail a taxi (Uber), watch a movie (Netflix) and get a date (Tinder) online at a moment’s notice. It’s why millennials are sometimes called the ‘on-demand generation’.

Over the years, this want-it-now mentality has changed the way we perform a huge range of everyday tasks, from ordering food (DoorDash) to booking a massage (Soothe), to freelancing (Fiverr), to online shopping.

Data shows the same-day delivery market is growing, and for some online shoppers, even that isn’t fast enough. Luckily, there are a slew of platforms out there to help you offer on-demand delivery.

Here’s a look at what on-demand delivery entails, why you should offer it in your e-commerce business and how you can go about doing so.

If standard delivery is 2+ business days, express delivery is next-day and same-day is, well, same-day, then on-demand delivery can be described as anything faster. Outside of food and drinks, and depending on the platform and location of the order, on-demand deliveries are typically made within three hours.

To make this work, on-demand delivery doesn’t go through the same collection and bulk sorting process as standard online delivery. Instead, it’s usually crowdsourced. Because of this, many major couriers don’t offer on-demand delivery.

As with most things in retail, the reason to offer on-demand delivery is that customers are demanding it. According to a report by Invespcro, 80% of shoppers want same-day shipping, while 61% want their packages even faster — within 1-3 hours of placing an order.

While only a few retailers were able to offer ultra-fast delivery in the past, that is starting to change, thanks to Covid-19. When traditional delivery services became overwhelmed by the spike in online shopping last year, several retailers started using on-demand delivery platforms to get their orders to customers. And even though delivery bottlenecks are no longer an issue, on-demand delivery has stuck around.

Kathmandu and Petbarn continue to offer same-day delivery via Uber, Chemist Warehouse advertises two-hour delivery with Sherpa and Nespresso has just launched three-hour delivery with Zoom2U.

Besides catering to customers’ desire for instant gratification, on-demand delivery is also affordable, thanks to the low overheads associated with the gig economy. It’s also transparent. Businesses and customers can see exactly when an order will be picked up and when it will be delivered.

Shippit makes it pretty easy!

1. If you’re planning to offer on-demand delivery, the first step is to pick a platform to partner with.

As a Shippit customer, you can easily tap into our rates or, integrate your own BYO account with Shippit.

2. Next, you need to decide how you’ll integrate on-demand delivery into your online checkout, and whether you’ll need to change or introduce any internal processes on the fulfilment side.

3. Finally, it’s time to share your new delivery option with your customers. Make sure your messaging on this is clear. Depending on the size and location of your delivery partner’s network, as well as your own business, you may only be able to offer on-demand delivery in certain parts of the country.

If you have a national network of brick-and-mortar stores and can ship from the store, you can probably offer on-demand delivery in metro areas across the country. If you’re online-only, you might be restricted to the city where your warehouse is based.

You don’t want to risk a customer placing an order because they think on-demand delivery is available in a location where it’s not, so be explicit about which postcodes are eligible for the service.

Now that you know how easy it is to offer on-demand delivery, there’s no reason not to, right?

Take advantage of EParcel's OnDemand service by integrating your BYO account into Shippit today.

Their service allows you to offer after-hours and Saturday deliveries to consumers - win!

✓ OnDemand now (delivery by the end of the day)

✓ OnDemand tonight (delivery after hours)

✓ OnDemand Saturday (delivery Saturday)

Connect your BYO account today through Shippit, contact our team via email at [email protected]. For more info check out - Integrating your own Australia Post

DoorDash reaches over 85% of Australia’s population through its driver network offering retailers an instant-delivery solution for consumers.

Shippit gives you access to both same-day & on-demand delivery options catering for a vast range of freight for retailers including:

✓ Beauty and makeup

✓ Clothing & Apparel

✓ Footwear & fashion accessories

✓ Small homewares

✓ Pharmaceutical - up to and including schedule 4

✓ Grocery - DoorDash meets cold chain compliance requirements for grocery and convenience retailers by capping estimated time on the road before accepting an order

✓ Alcohol - DoorDash complies with legislation by enabling a specific delivery protocol for orders containing alcohol, requiring our drivers to verify a recipient’s age via an ID check upon delivery

✓ Priority service level - same day

✓ OnDemand service level - delivery within 3 hours

Same Day Delivery Reinvented. Fast, Affordable, Reliable. GetItFast makes deliveries seamless through reliability, real-time notifications and great customer service.

GetItFast partners with Shippit to serve up both Express & OnDemand delivery options to our customers via a BYO integration.

✓ OnDemand delivery - get it in a few hours

✓ Express delivery - get it same day or next

Partnering with Shippit, Sherpa helps businesses provide a quick last-mile delivery service to our customers and is ideal for those clients wanting to offer fast delivery within a matter of hours.

Shippit can customise your solution giving you access to this crowdsourced courier for either a shift or a single on-demand delivery.

Both On-demand + Same day delivery options are available with delivery choices of:

✓ Priority same day

✓ OnDemand within 2 hours

✓ OnDemand within 4 hours

Gain access to ASAP or Same day delivery options through Shippit with Drive Yello. You can tap into 8000+ active Yello drivers Australia-wide.

OnDemand + Same day delivery options including delivery choices of:

✓ Within 3 hours

✓ After hours

✓ Scheduled delivery window.

Now accepting goods up to:

✓ 23 kg dead weight

✓ 0.21 m³ cubic weight

✓ 1 metre in length

Start your experience with Drive Yello today here!

With Uber, you'll be tapping into Australia's biggest network of OnDemand drivers.

Powered by the UberEats network and available in 28 cities, Shippit’s on-demand deliveries with Uber are made directly from your store to your customer, within a 20-kilometre radius.

Take advantage of Shippit's partner rates to get fast access to Uber's on-demand delivery.

Now accepting goods up to:

✓ 20 kg dead weight

✓ Cubic dimensions up to 2 m³ (approx. 175 x 130 x 90 cm)

✓ 1.75 metres in length

✓ Up to 8 items at a time

Contact us today to get started with Uber!