After-9 & Max Delivery
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Who would have thought: under-an-hour delivery of groceries and other urban necessities, ordered online, are back. Spottings from Istanbul and Lower Manhattan.
Kozmo! Urbanfetch! Food.com! Ordering a pint of Ben & Jerry’s and a video from your East Village studio in your underwear. Ah, those were the days! But as predicted (SECOND .COMING), beautiful flowers now grow on the graves of many a failed dotcom. In Istanbul, After 9 started delivering stuff to demanding Istanbulites in need of urban necessities like condoms, beverages, cigarettes, diapers and sandwiches. Orders are placed online or over the phone, and are delivered by motorbike or car in 45 minutes or less. Opening hours are 9pm–6am. For this urban luxury, customers pay a 25-30% premium compared to regular supermarket prices. The minimum order size is USD 7 (EUR 6/GBP 4), but the average order is closer to USD 20 (EUR 17/GBP 11.50). Additional services since the September 2005 launch include Nite-Porter (a chauffeur service which takes customers wherever they like in their own car) and Pill-Porter, an all-night pharmacy delivery service. Geographical expansion plans include more outlets in Istanbul, including the Asian side, and adding the cities of Izmir and Ankara to the list.
And even in Manhattan, under-an-hour delivery is back. Since spring of last year, MaxDelivery (“order now, have it in minutes”) bikers deliver USD 10 (EUR 8.50/GBP 5.75) minimum orders from a Tribeca warehouse to Lower Manhattan. Daring? Yes. Interesting? Definitely.
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