While New York will always be known as “The city that never sleeps”, the worldwide explosion of 24/7 on-demand services has changed both business owners’ and customers’ mindsets. Businesses that depend on deliveries understand the potential of ‘out-of-business hours’, especially as customers around the world get accustomed to ordering what they want wherever, whenever. Even small businesses that were traditionally focused on ‘brick-and-mortar’ such as restaurants, are seeing in some occasions a bigger portion of their revenues coming from deliveries; those who serve late-night customers are reaping the benefits from a new wave of demand coming from people who want more than the traditional trading hours.
This isn’t only happening across the US but rather a true global phenomenon. Whether you “need” a 3am doughnut in London, munchies for the wee-hours of Mumbai or even midnight caviar in Colombia, around the clock deliveries are booming. This is mainly thanks to innovations in delivery logistics technology. GrubHub recently released a ranking of college campuses with the highest percentage of food orders placed between 10:00 p.m. and 2:00 a.m. Their ranking revealed that in some campuses, over 20% of food deliveries come from late night orders.
Investors want a piece of the action
Venture capital investors have taken notice of this growing trend, betting on startups that focus on what’s becomimg more than just niche. Companies such as goPass, Bats on Delivery and Bevy have all closed significant rounds of funding over the past few months.
Bevy for example, partners with large 24-hour off-license retailers; a model which enables drivers to immediately purchase from stores and deliver directly to the customer. This helps them sell alcohol on-demand and leverage the fact that Europe’s nightlife is in decline and millennials are opting for more nights in.
Beyond midnight snacks and cravings
This out-of-hours trend goes far beyond food and grocery deliveries. New York’s effective off-hour delivery program, aimed at reducing day-traffic, is now heading to D.C. as well. The initiative has been hailed by all parties as a huge success, with significant reduction in delivery time, pollution and city traffic. If every N.Y. business in the adopted the program, the economic benefit would be estimated at upwards of $193 million a year!
The role of technology
Successful logistic operations need to run with military precision, even more so when the activity happening around the clock. Bringg is uniquely positions to provide business owners and their fleets the delivery management platform to succeed in a landscape where full transparency between businesses, drivers and customers is demanded. Customer expectations are going beyond the ability to just order, but rather demand the ability to be fully aware of the status of their order at any given time.
I look forward to seeing how this trend evolves and shapes businesses and consumers alike – with a new environment that isn’t bound by rigid trading hours.
