Shopify partners with Uber to provide same-day delivery

Authors: Euan Rocha and Anet Josline Pinto

(Reuters) – Canadian e-commerce platform Shopify Inc. announced Wednesday that it has partnered with taxi-hailing service Uber (UBER.UL) to enable sellers to deliver same-day goods to customers in New York, Chicago and San Francisco.

Shopify announced that its UberRUSH delivery service will be immediately available to merchants in three cities.

US department stores such as Kohl’s and Macy’s Inc are offering same-day delivery services through a partnership with Deliv, an Uber-like startup that has drivers pick up ordered items from stores and deliver them to customers.

The deal with Uber is the latest in a series of major tie-ups announced by Ottawa-based Shopify. Last month, it partnered with the U.S. Postal Service, making it more attractive for smaller U.S. retailers to use its e-commerce website software.

Just earlier, Amazon.com made Shopify its preferred partner for smaller vendors who want to sell their goods through the online retail giant.

While the fast delivery services seem to compete with Amazon’s fast shipping options, partnering with Uber and USPS won’t put Shopify on a collision course with Amazon, said Brennan Loh, Shopify’s head of product partnerships. He added that smaller merchants will still want to sell their products through Amazon because of the platform’s much broader reach compared to their own portals.

“We try to alleviate as many of the problems that merchants face in running their business as possible,” Loh said. “The partnership with Uber is another step in this direction.”

Shopify merchants can provide their customers with an UberRUSH delivery option, the company says. Merchants can request a pickup via Uber, and both the customer and merchant can track the exact location from pickup to delivery in Shopify.

Last month, Re/code reported that Uber plans to partner with retailers and fashion brands.

On Wednesday, Bigcommerce also announced a partnership with Uber that will allow it to offer same-day delivery to its merchants in Chicago, New York and San Francisco through UberRUSH.

Uber, which is facing legal claims over alleged violations including using unlicensed drivers in its taxi services, also operates a food delivery service in eight U.S. cities, including New York, San Francisco and Los Angeles.

(Editing: Don Sebastian, Bernard Orr)