eBay has announced an agreement to acquire Shutl, the UK-based marketplace that uses a network of couriers to deliver local goods within a a couple of hours of the online purchase. Terms were not disclosed.
The acquisition comes on the heels of the Click & Collect trial Shutl started with UK retailer Argos. Ebay says there is now and intention to expand eBay Now into London using Shutl’s infrastructure. eBay Now is a service available through iPhone, Android and desktop web that allows shoppers to have products from local stores, delivered in around an hour.
eBay President Devin Wenig sais at a media event in New York that “approximately 75 percent of what people buy is local, found within 15 miles from their home” and that “Traditional retail isn’t going away. But it is transforming, and that creates enormous opportunity within the $10 trillion total commerce market.”
Only last month eBay launched its “Click & Collect” service in the UK, where shoppers can buy goods from eBay online and then select a physical retail location where they can be delivered. It also said it was bringing its same-day delivery option, eBay Now, to the UK, but it didt say how.
Post acquisition of Shutl, now we know.
