Deliv acquires Zipments to expand last-mile network

Crowdsourced last-mile delivery company Deliv has acquired New York-based Zipments, a same-day delivery firm that will allow Menlo Park, Calif.-based Deliv to instantly expand its route network in the nation's largest market. Terms were not disclosed.

Deliv serves large e-commerce retailers or local businesses that need to provide same-day delivery and returns services without building their own local logistics programs. The firm explicitly pitches itself as a way for omnichannel retailers to compete with Amazon.com Inc. for fast delivery. "With Deliv, they can now deliver on the same-day promise better and faster than anyone else —even better than the e-commerce juggernaut in the Pacific Northwest!" the company's website says.

In pursuit of that goal, Deliv has been growing quickly through acquisition in recent months, buying a footprint in Chicago when it took over WeDeliver in June. Customers have taken notice, and in August, the retail giant Macy's Inc. picked Deliv to provide same-day delivery service in nine cities.

By partnering with large merchants on the back end, Deliv provides omnichannel fulfillment for national retailers such as Best Buy Company Inc., Express, Kohl's, Pottery Barn, and Williams-Sonoma, as well as thousands of local merchants and pure-play e-commerce companies. After absorbing Zipments' client base, Deliv will add names such as DVF, Ted Baker, and Trina Turk to that list.

Deliv works by inviting drivers to use its smartphone app to respond to each call for delivery, picking up and delivering items with their personal cars. Drivers are paid per parcel. The delivery model is similar to "Amazon Flex," a crowdsourced, one-hour delivery service launched in September by Amazon.

Crowdsourcing is defined as the process of obtaining needed services, ideas, or content by soliciting contributions from a large group of people, often an online community.

Retailers partner with Deliv by adding a "same-day delivery" option to their e-commerce checkout page, alongside options such as standard and overnight shipping. The Zipments acquisition also opens the door for Deliv to work directly with large corporate clients—and to compete with FedEx Corp. and UPS Inc., as well as local courier services, to deliver packages across the city.

"Deliv is the de facto leader in same-day delivery for omnichannel retailers and has one of the largest same-day delivery footprints in the nation," Zipments CEO and founder Garrick Pohl said in a statement. "We're thrilled to join such a great team to further disrupt last-mile logistics in retail."