Dusseldorf Sometimes things have to be done very quickly, even with electronic products: There’s an important presentation in an hour, but the projector has given up the ghost? The charging cable has disappeared and the battery of the smartphone only has ten percent charge?
So far, the only thing that has helped is a personal trip to the nearest electronics store. But now you can also have small devices and accessories for mobile phones or computers delivered within 35 minutes. At least that’s the promise. Lieferando and Media-Markt have concluded a new partnership for this. A selection of around 100 products can be delivered in the short time.
This delivery service is initially limited to the inner city of Berlin, within the Berliner Ring, additional fees do not apply. However, there are plans to quickly expand this service to other cities – if there is a corresponding demand for it.
Lieferando is thus the first of the many new express delivery services to expand its range to include electronic products. So far, mainly restaurant orders, groceries and drugstore items have been delivered. But because companies want to better utilize their drivers throughout the day, some services are considering expanding their range with new partners – and thus offering a faster alternative to courier services such as DHL, Hermes or UPS.
The delivery service Wolt, for example, which employs around 4,000 drivers in Germany, has announced that it will offer delivery options for every dealer in the future. He calls this program “Wolt Drive”. However, only a few dealers deliver via Wolt, including flower shops and pharmacies.
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Delivery Hero introduced a logistics service for retailers in 25 countries some time ago. Deliveries are made via the subsidiary Foodpanda, which does not operate in Germany.
The Bringoo start-up by founder Hasib Khan already works closely with stationary retailers in Germany. In some cities, he not only delivers goods to grocers such as Penny, but also to Obi hardware stores and the bookseller Hugendubel. With Bringoo, the goods are with the customer within 45 minutes.
However, no stationary retailer has offered such fast delivery for electronic products. The retailer Cyberport delivers in some cities within three hours. To do this, however, the order must be received by 4 p.m. on weekdays, and even by 10 a.m. on Saturdays.
The delivery start-up Arive, which offers its services to retailers in cities such as Berlin, Hamburg and Munich, also has selected electronic products in its range in addition to lifestyle items. But there are customers usually delivery dates for the next day at the earliest.
Media-Markt also wants to supply razors and hair dryers
Media-Markt and Lieferando, on the other hand, deliver daily from 8 a.m. to 11.45 p.m. The range includes mobile phone, gaming and computer accessories, household electronics, but also razors and hair dryers. Deliveries are usually made by cargo bike.
“By being present on the Lieferando online marketplace, we have an additional attractive opportunity to show our products and get our customers delivered quickly, easily and conveniently,” explains Timo Emmert, E-Commerce Managing Director at Media-Markt new service. Lieferando Managing Director Katharina Haucke announced that she intends to “open up and expand the business potential of consumer electronics with Media Markt”.
The aim of the Berlin pilot project is to expand the partnership after the test phase that has now started. To this end, both companies would continuously review and improve the product selection, process flows, technical integration and joint marketing over the next few months.
The pilot launch in the new division is part of the food and retail strategy of Lieferando’s parent company Just Eat Takeaway.com. The company works with numerous retailers around the world, including Asda, Sainsbury’s, Carrefour and 7-Eleven. In Berlin, Lieferando is also testing the delivery of fresh groceries in order to better utilize the driver fleet throughout the day.
So far, both fast delivery services such as Gorillas or Flink and restaurant couriers such as Lieferando and Wolt have suffered from the difficulty of making their services profitable. Delivery Hero aborted a test to introduce its delivery service Foodpanda in Berlin after a short time. Gorillas has just been taken over by Turkish competitor Getir.
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