Same-Day Delivery May Be A Win For Macy's

Tom Ryan , Contributor

Do you need same-day delivery for a sweater or a pair of stilettos? Macy's M +0.76% believes so. In late October, Macy’s began trialing same-day delivery to online customers in eight major U.S. markets: Chicago, Houston, Los Angeles, New Jersey, San Francisco, San Jose, Seattle and Washington, D.C. Bloomingdale’s, its sister chain, will offer the service in four: Chicago, Los Angeles, San Francisco and San Jose.

Delivery costs a flat $5 for orders over $99, while smaller orders are charged standard shipping rates plus $5. Orders must be placed by 1 p.m. Monday through Saturday and by 11 a.m. on Sundays with options for two-hour delivery windows available.

The service will be supported by Deliv, the crowdsourced same-day delivery upstart, in collaboration with major mall owners includingGeneral Growth Properties GGP +0.88%, Macerich MAC +1.63%, Simon and Westfield Corp.

Macy’s said same-day delivery is “built on an operational foundation” that led to the full rollout this fall of BOPIS (buy online, pick-up in-store) across its network of stores, and was mentioned as part of several moves to support its omni-channel push.

Macy’s fees are comparable or in many cases lower than other same-day delivery options.

Amazon’s same-day service, now in 13 cities, costs $5.99 for Amazon Prime members. Non-Prime members pay $9.98 for the first item and 99 cents for each additional item. At least in Chicago, orders must be placed by 7:45 a.m. to guarantee delivery by 9 p.m. Google GOOGL +0.39% Express charges $4.99 per order or $10 a month and $95 per year. Walmart To Go costs $10 regardless of the size of the order.

Photo: Macy’s

The industry insiders of the RetailWire BrainTrustwere generally positive about Macy’s  — a retailer known for being ahead of the omni-channel curve — offering same-day delivery.