Last week, research firm AlixPartners put out an interesting look on where the delivery world goes next, and one key part of the next delivery phase looks like it may be coming fast.
According to that survey, the U.S. delivery market is in the middle of “Wave 2,” where consumers want their deliveries fast, cheap and routine. The next phase of where the U.S. and other economies is heading is all about convenience and getting cumbersome, bulky items delivered. This evolution also goes beyond simple deliveries with the desire for added services like assembly or installation, stuff the local appliance retailer would offer for their own products, but would mean an extra transaction when ordered from an online retailer.
To that end, IKEA acquired TaskRabbit in 2017, and other retailers including eBay and Walmart have partnered with Handy, a TaskRabbit competitor. Those additional services, it seems, are still the minority of sales, but that’s starting to change.
For restaurants watching evolving consumer trends, the research suggests consumers may eventually want their meal deliveries to be plated with some candles lit for ambiance in the coming years.
According to AlixPartners, consumers surveyed in its Home Delivery Shopping Survey are more interested than ever in installation, assembly or technical services.
As seen in the chart below, more than half said they would be interested in service for large appliances, a 16 percent increase since 2014. The second strongest growth category was furniture, with 39 percent of respondents indicating an interest in somebody else putting together that furniture purchased online.
Between the jokes about how building furniture is a relationship killer and the ever-shrinking included tools, it looks like IKEA made a wise bet.
Given this trend, it’s easy to paint a picture of the not-so-far-off delivery future covering more than just product delivery. Someone arrives with your new couch and dinner, and getting to work while you chow down in the next room.
