Abercrombie & Fitch customers can get same-day delivery
Officials at Abercrombie & Fitch Co., the upscale retailer of youth and young adult apparel and accessories, is launching a sameday delivery service across all of its U.S. stores.
There is a $10 fee for same day deliveries, according to a company spokeswoman. The same-day deliveries are a permanent effort to better serve customers, she said, and are not in response to staffing shortages and supply chain problems that are plaguing many retailers.
In Connecticut, there are Abercrombie & Fitch stores at the Clinton Crossing Premium Outlets and at Danbury Fair mall. The SoNo Collection in Norwalk and Westfarms Mall in West Hartford have Abercrombie Kids locations.
There are also five Hollister stores, which is part of Abercrombie & Fitch, that offer same-day deliveries. Those locations are in Danbury, Norwalk, Farmington, Milford and Trumbull.
Abercrombie & Fitch has partnered with Uber, Shipt, Postmates, Roadie and software provider Delivery Solutions to allow customers in certain ZIP codes to receive products from its stores within the same day they are ordered. Each brand’s website features a “Get It Fast” filter to find products that are available, or shoppers can choose the same-day delivery option for available items at checkout.
After the same-day delivery order is placed, customers can opt to receive tracking updates via text to determine when their order will arrive, according to Abercrombie & Fitch officials. It was not immediately clear whether customers using same-day delivery would be charged an additional fee for the service.
Larry Grischow, executive vice president of Supply Chain and Procurement for the retailer, said Abercrombie & Fitch is “thrilled to add same-day delivery as another option in our portfolio of omni-channel services, which also include purchase online pickup in store, curbside pickup, reserve in store, ship from store and traditional parcel home delivery.”
“Same-day delivery supports our goals of meeting our customers where they are and delivering our product to them when and how they want it, particularly as we approach the holiday season,” Grischow said in a statement.
Abercrombie & Fitch tested a pilot program testing the demand for sameday delivery at 40 stores around the country earlier this year before starting the program nationwide, according to the spokeswoman. She declined to say how much the service may have added to sales during the pilot or what the expectations are for increased activity in Connecticut.
Burt Flickinger, managing director of the New York City-based Strategic Resource Group consulting firm, said the move by Abercrombie & Fitch “is a truly inspired initiative.”
“Like all teen and young adult retailers, they didn’t move all of the inventory last year,” Flickinger said. “It repositions Abercrombie to reassure consumers they have inventory, products that are in store and in style, so that people don’t have to go to the malls.”
David Cadden, a professor emeritus at Quinnipiac University's School of Business, said that while Abercrombie & Fitch customers will welcome the news, mall operators might not have much enthusiasm for the plan.
“They want people to come their malls,” Cadden said. “As long as it might possibly general customer traffic, the mall owners will be OK with it. But if it eats into traffic, the mall owners will hate it.”
Flickinger said all of the brands in the Abercrombie & Fitch portfolio target a younger demographic.
Joanne Anglada, of Cheshire, said she finds this kind of service attractive.
“I buy from Abercrombie regularly and pay expedited shipping when I need stuff that same week,” Anglada said.