3 chains will be UPS delivery sites
CVS, Michael’s, Advanced Auto Parts agree to receive items
Brick-and-mortar retailers have found a new calling in the age of ecommerce: As pickup and drop-off sites for online purchases.
Kohl’s this month began accepting Amazon returns at its stores, calling the arrangement its “single biggest initiative of the year.” Now CVS, Michael’s and Advanced Auto Parts stores are joining the fray, as delivery spots for UPS orders.
The initiative, announced Tuesday, adds 12,000 stores to UPS’ network of “access points,” where customers can retrieve their packages, print out labels and drop off returns. Demand for those services has grown, UPS executives said, as Americans look for secure and convenient ways to receive online purchases — and return unwanted merchandise.
“Consumers, especially those who live in apartments, want secured deliveries,” said Kate Gutmann, chief sales officer for UPS. “This is part of our broader strategy for e-commerce.”
Retailers and delivery services are racing to find new ways to offer fast — and secure — ways for customers to pick up their packages.
Amazon offers free in-car delivery for Prime members, while Walmart’s Jet.com is testing smart-lock technology that allows workers to drop off packages in residents’ homes even when they aren’t there.
UPS offers package pickups and drop-offs at about 9,000 neighborhood shops, banks and office buildings, as well as 5,000 of its franchised company stores. Its newest efforts would more than double its
national reach.
For retailers, such partnerships have become an important way to get people into their stores. Consumers are doing more of their shopping online, leaving many retailers scrambling to find new uses for their physical stores.
Some, such as Nordstrom and Target, are experimenting with smaller-format stores in city centers, while Walmart, Macy’s and others are encouraging customers to buy online, and pick up in stores.
UPS picked the three national chains, Gutmann said, because they cater to Americans in both urban and rural areas, and offer extended evening and weekend hours. Representatives for CVS, Michael’s and Advanced Auto Parts didn’t immediately respond to requests for comment.
“Our big goal is to be near the U.S. population,” Gutmann said. “And retailers see this as a win-win: It’s a way to generate revenue and increase walk-through traffic.”
Kohl’s tested its Amazon returns service in 100 locations before expanding it to all 1,150 stores two weeks ago.
“Our top strategic priority is driving traffic, and this transformational program does just that,” Michelle Gass, the chief executive of Kohl’s, said at the time. “It drives customers into our stores.”
UPS also announced that starting Jan. 1, it will offer pickup and delivery services seven days a week, adding service on Sundays.
It said it is setting up a subsidiary that will focus on expanding its drone-delivery operations, limited now to delivering medical samples at a group of hospitals in Raleigh, N.C.
It filed for certification from the Federal Aviation Administration for the subsidiary, called UPS Flight Forward, to fly drones beyond line of sight, at night, and with an unlimited number of drones and operators in command.
Still, Google is ahead of UPS on the drone front.
In April, Google announced its affiliate Wing Aviation received federal approval allowing it to make commercial deliveries by drone. It marked the first time a company has gotten a federal air carrier certification for drone deliveries.
The approval from the FAA means that Wing can operate commercial drone flights in part of Virginia, which it plans to begin later this year.