Dive Brief:
- Parcel delivery company Sendle is picking up speed with the launch of two-day and three-day guaranteed shipping services in the U.S., according to announcements last month.
- Pricing varies by distance traveled and package size. The company's Two-Day Guaranteed service starts at $8.48 per package, while its Three-Day Guaranteed service starts at $4.59.
- Sendle's new services add to the company's existing shipping options of Sendle Saver (two-to-eight day delivery estimate) and Sendle Preferred (one-to-five day delivery estimate).
Dive Insight:
Interest in delivery options outside of national carriers has grown since the capacity constraints and price hikes associated with the COVID-19 pandemic. This has been the case for not just slower, more economical shipping services, but one-to-three day offerings as well.
Sendle's launch of faster delivery services came after existing and prospective customers requested a low-cost alternative to the expedited shipping options that UPS offers, Tom Byun, the company's president for North America, said in an interview.
"That's what we wanted to offer up with our two-day and three-day, and we're starting to see some good pickup overall," Byun said.
Sendle uses a mix of parcel carriers to offer nationwide delivery, leveraging its economies of scale to pass on shipping discounts to merchants that otherwise would have difficulty securing lower rates, Byun said.
The company's mix of delivery offerings are geared toward small e-commerce businesses. It serves a range of customers, from those shipping just one parcel a month to businesses with thousands of packages to deliver, Byun said.
With faster services now available, Sendle is leaning on data to meet those guarantees.
The company analyzes on-time pickup and delivery performance for the couriers it uses to determine the most reliable way it can achieve the requested delivery times, Byun said. Sendle will refund the cost of delivery for packages delivered later than those guarantees, according to news releases for the service launches.
