Best Buy Launches Same Day Online Pickup in New York

Need to Know

• In a push to increase their omnichannel experience, Best Buy enabled 175 New York UPS and CVS locations to now serve as same-day delivery pickup points for online purchases.
• A survey conducted by UPS found that one in five customers want online orders delivered to a location other than their residence for convenience or security reasons.
• In 2019 e-commerce sales are expected to account for 13.7 percent of retail sales worldwide.

Analysis

In order to keep up with other e-commerce giants, Best Buy is offering online order pickups in 175 New York UPS and CVS locations. The service, launched this quarter, also allows shoppers who choose a three-hour window to opt for same-day delivery. 

Best Buy executives said the company is leveraging its robust store fulfillment network and working to make all its delivery options, from ship-to-home to in-store or curbside pickup, as seamless as possible. 

As a big box retailer with over 1,200 locations each averaging over 40,000 square feet in size, Best Buy is hoping to use its extensive network to give its customers as much choice as possible. These stores can carry an abundance of stock, and the sheer number of locations can enable same-day delivery.

Online giant, Amazon offers a similar service in New York, even recently dropping their next-day delivery to same-day. Best Buy’s delivery changes now place the company in a better position to compete with the e-commerce giant, perhaps even having a glaring advantage—those physical retail stores. 

Retail studies like the ‘Pulse of the Online Shopper’ by UPS show that increasing delivery options resonate well with customers and can dramatically increase brick-and-mortar foot traffic, regardless of e-commerce’s surging popularity.

The study notes that 50% of US online shoppers have used ship-to-store in the past year. Best Buy boasts that for customers choosing to buy online and pickup in-store, 80% of orders are ready in under 30 minutes. This omnichannel customer-focused delivery approach attributes to the company’s growth. Best Buy grew 8.8% from 2017 to 2019 and predictions published in Forbes place their 2020 revenue at $43.5 billion.

The UPS and CVS delivery service rolled out in New York but the company has plans for expansion

“New York is a great place for us to start primarily because of the density of consumers and our sheer lack of stores in some of the areas we would like to support customers,” Mike Mohan, president and COO at Best Buy said on a Q3 earnings call, adding that the company has plans to scale the program nationally after the holidays.