eBay Now expands coverage area for 1-hour delivery
The company is adding more service areas, including Silicon Valley, Brooklyn, Queens, Chicago, and Dallas, as well as a desktop service.
eBay is expanding its 1-hour delivery service, eBay Now, to new locations in the San Francisco area, New York area, Chicago, and Dallas, the company announced Monday.
In addition to expanding its service area, eBay is adding features that may seem a bit backwards -- desktop access to eBay Now and an in-store pick-up option for all of eBay.com.
But eBay's VP of mobile and local, Dane Glasgow, said the company is adding the features at the request of customers. eBay Now lets users order from one of eBay's local retail partners, during store hours, and have the items delivered within 60 minutes. It costs $5 per order with a $25 minimum per store.
"We definitely see that consumers will ultimately want choice. There's a time when consumers will want something quickly and there's times when people will need to go into the store to look at things," Glasgow said.
The need for choice applies to devices as well. eBay found that a good portion of its customers who spend the most money on the site use multiple devices. Twenty-one percent of visitors who use both mobile devices and a desktop PC make up 44 percent of the total volume eBay sells, according to Glasgow. The most popular purchases using this service are electronics and home and garden supplies, but one customer, who found himself with blown bike tires during a ride, ordered replacement parts sent to him on the spot, Glasgow said.
The company will add the in-store pickup feature later this year, but you can order 1-hour delivery through the desktop starting Monday. The expansions will also roll out Monday.
In addition to launching the service in Dallas and Chicago, eBay Now will expand to other cities in the San Francisco Bay Area (including Los Gatos, Saratoga, Cupertino, Santa Clara, Sunnyvale, Mountain View, Los Altos, Palo Alto, Menlo Park, Redwood City, San Carlos, Belmont, Redwood Shores, Foster City, San Mateo and Burlingame), and in the New York City area (including Queens and Brooklyn, specifically Ridgewood and Prospect Park).
The e-commerce giant rolled out the service last year in San Francisco before quickly expanding to New York.
Other online commerce companies are testing same-day delivery options, including Walmart and Amazon.
Updated on July 23 at 8:29 a.m. PT to clarify that in-store pickup will be available for all of eBay.com.