eBay Now, which delivers products from stores including Target, Walgreen and Best Buy was launched in 2012 in San Francisco and San Jose, California and Manhattan, New York. eBay is now expanding its delivery service to Brooklyn and Queens in New York and to the Bay Area peninsula, between San Francisco and San Jose. Chicago and Dallas will be added in 2013 and the service may expand outside the US in the future.
eBay is partnering with retailers to create a network of existing physical stores that will operate as mini-storage and distribution hubs for online purchases.
Google is pursuing the same opportunity via its Google Shopping Express test, which started same-day deliveries in the San Francisco Bay Area earlier in 2013. Wal-Mart Stores is also testing same-day delivery through its Walmart To Go program in some US cities.
eBay Now charges USD 5 for fast deliveries of online orders over USD 25. The retailer currently uses its own couriers, however the company is testing a new approach that uses other couriers, effectively plugging online orders into existing delivery routes.
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