The most exciting startup of the Next Web conference in Amsterdam was Shutl (“Online Delivery Revolution”) from the UK, because they are trying to get a delivery service off the ground which meets the demands of the 21st century. Shutl has the support of some first investors and a start capital of 500,000 British pounds.
Customers from shops such as Start London can choose between delivery options such as “Shutl now” or “Shutl later”.
For the shipping itself, Shutl connects with a league of local delivery services who compete amongst themselves to offer the best service and price levels.
Shutl has recently opened up a developers’ interface and an extension module for Magento and osCommerce. In May, Shutl plans to announce a cooperation with a large British retailer.
Many noteworthy e-commerce concepts still fail in today’s world due to lack of capable logistics solutions. QVC in Germany for example wanted to get far more into the sale of frozen goods four and a half years ago (GE/EN), but instead has needed to compromise with a “Wednesday only” delivery solution due to insufficient delivery services (current example in German link).
Nevertheless, the grocery industry is still the furthest along: see the related posts below for our reporting of LeShop, Tesco and the renaissance of e-commerce drive-ins.
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