Uber announced its official launch of their new on-demand delivery service UberRUSH (embed link: http://newsroom.uber.com/2015/10/rush-open-for-business/) on October 14th which ensures same day delivery of goods from local businesses to those customers in their area.
So now instead of Uber driving you home from a big night out they can deliver the big night out right to your front door instead!
Well… not yet, but it,ll happen soon we’re sure!
So far the service is only available in New York City, Chicago and San Francisco but – like the Uber driver service before them – it will probably spread across America and then worldwide quickly.
UberRUSH uses Uber’s already established infrastructure meaning that it’s way cheaper for local businesses to use their service instead of creating their own (which costs a lot of time and money) or relying on the postal service which cannot give people same-day delivery.
It uses their already existing drivers as well as app so that both merchant and consumer can track where their order is at any time, and because they’re only using local drivers to deliver the products most items are delivered within minutes, which consumers are already loving!
Uber also uses bike couriers, something which NYC is well known for, and a delivery form that was diminishing in use but now with UberRUSH we might see a resurgence of toned men in shiny lycra winging their way through the streets with packages.
We think this is a super clever move by Uber whose initial launch caused quite a stir with taxi’s companies from around the world, their UberX offering is still illegal in NSW with fines now in place if drivers are caught providing the ride sharing service.
This tactical move into the courier industry is sure to shake things up as well, especially seeing as larger companies have not been able to achieve this on-demand delivery fleet as of yet. UberRUSH is again making the ‘little guy’ big – enhancing the lives of the local business owners and drivers around them which big businesses tend to get mad at.
Although some big names have jumped on board in support of UberRUSH, they already have partnerships with m-commerce companies such as Shopify, ChowNow and BloomNet. The continuation of these m-commerce partnerships and the establishment of more (ie. with Amazon) are crucial for UberRUSH’s success as financial transactions for delivery of local products aren’t facilitated through the core app.
Safe to say they’ve got our attention, and most likely they will have the worlds again soon with this new venture.