UPS strengthens same-day delivery services with Delivery Solutions acquisition

Dive Brief:

UPS has acquired Delivery Solutions, whose platform offers shippers multi-carrier, same-day delivery options, the logistics giant announced Tuesday. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.
Beyond same-day delivery, Delivery Solutions also offers curbside, in-store pickup and post-purchase solutions.
Delivery Solutions will be run independently under its current leadership "as an agnostic, multi-carrier platform" with the same name, according to UPS. "Now combined with UPS’s capabilities, it will create new solutions to speed up growth for our customers by improving end-to-end online shopping experiences."

Dive Insight:

In a June 2021 investor day presentation, UPS CEO Carol Tomé said the company was exploring ways to compete in the same-day delivery space as demand for that service surged in the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic. Pilots were underway as the company looked to "get some more experience under our belt and a stronger point of view," according to Tomé.

UPS has since made two acquisitions that demonstrate its same-day delivery ambitions. In October, it completed its acquisition of crowdsourced same-day delivery provider Roadie, which can deliver items not suited for UPS' network like perishables.

Delivery Solutions' platform provides access to a variety of delivery providers, from same-day options like Roadie and Walmart GoLocal to traditional parcel carriers like FedEx and UPS, per its website. The company will bolster UPS' offerings as retailers are looking to meet the varied needs of e-commerce shoppers through same-day delivery and omnichannel fulfillment.

UPS providing these options means its enterprise retail customers won't have to go elsewhere for those needs, LPF Spend Management founder Nate Skiver wrote on LinkedIn.

"It also provides UPS with a better understanding of retail customers’ inventory and order data," Skiver wrote.

UPS has had previous success acquiring companies that continue to operate under their legacy name, such as Roadie and Marken, wrote Dean Maciuba, managing partner USA at Crossroads Parcel Consulting, in a LinkedIn post. Marken is a clinical supply chain subsidiary that UPS acquired in 2016.

"This is a brilliant move by UPS towards gaining insight into and the potential for same-day delivery, while not having to step in and manage a company/service where they have no experience," Maciuba wrote of the Delivery Solutions deal.