Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) plans to make shopping experiences more exciting through a new partnership with Postmates. The deal allows buyers in some cities to enjoy same-day delivery on selected items. Delivery times will vary from a few hours to a full day depending on the type of product one is buying and the availability of a driver.
The service will be limited to cities that Postmates operates in. It is unclear at this time whether Apple plans to expand the service to cover more cities. Customers who live in cities where Postmates does not operate will miss out on the service. Instead, they will have to rely on normal delivery options and times.
Delivery costs matter
Buyers who visit an Apple store and already have Postmates available to them should be able to view the delivery times for products they wish to buy on the service’s app. Once an order is made, a buyer will be able to track an item until delivery is made.
Same day delivery service is very new for Apple fans. They have, however, been able to collect an order from their local Apple store on the same day as making a buy for years. Buyers will have to pay the full cost of their same day delivery, however. That cost will depend on the type of order and the distance from the local store.
Apple gets competitive
Apple joins the likes of Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN), eBay Inc (NASDAQ:EBAY) and Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. (NYSE:WMT) that believe home deliveries will have a huge bearing on shopping patterns in the future.
Amazon has been successful on that front. The firm gives consumers an opportunity to buy items and have them delivered right to their door step in much less than a day if they pay for Amazon Prime. That’s a $99-per-year subscription.
Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. has also unveiled its own Prime-like service. The retail giant is looking to increase sales after as it falls in the face of stores that already have the service.
It will be interesting to see if Apple Inc. will expand the service to other cities. The success of same-day delivery in the short term will have a huge bearing on whether Apple decides to expand it and increase the number of products on offer.
