AUSTIN, Texas—June 27, 2018—uShip, the logistics technology company, today announced it has launched an in-home delivery service for e-commerce merchants selling large, heavy goods online. The company also says its delivery volume has doubled over the past three years.
This fixed price, white glove service helps online sellers better compete with Amazon, Walmart, and big-box online stores in the sale of bulky goods, one of the fastest growing segments of online retail. eMarketer predicts revenue from online furniture and home furnishings sales will reach $42.7B by 2019.
“In an extremely competitive market, online sellers are scrambling for a turnkey logistics solution for oversized items, something Amazon, UPS and FedEx currently struggle to provide. By partnering with uShip, e-commerce sellers get white glove service, lower, predictable delivery costs, and shortened transit times thanks to our proven logistics platform and nationwide network of feedback-rated transporters,” says Mike Williams, CEO of uShip.
As buyers have gotten more comfortable purchasing large items online, legacy logistics companies are also eyeing the furniture delivery business, realizing they can no longer ignore the segment due to consumer demand, especially by millennials.
Pilot Program Results
uShip’s successful pilot program with online seller Everything But The House (EBTH), the world’s premier online marketplace for authenticated second-hand items, and other e-commerce merchants processed over 12,000 fixed-price furniture deliveries to customers across the United States. Partners reported cutting delivery costs by nearly 50 percent, and reducing transit times by up to 65 percent, from 4-6 weeks to just 14 days.
“Prior to discovering uShip, furniture delivery took too long and wasn’t insured properly. Our oversized e-commerce pilot program with uShip helped us reduce transit times and damage rates,” says Michael Walker, senior vice president of logistics at EBTH.
Doubled Delivery Volume
On uShip, where a new shipment is posted every 20 seconds, transporters within its provider network consistently have access to 16,000-18,000 shipments. Each month, nearly 2,000 new small and midsize organizations use uShip’s touchless, cashless platform and mobile app for technology-enabled business shipping, while uShip’s less-than-truckload (LTL) instant rate platform has seen 52 percent annual transaction growth.
Since 2004, uShip’s marketplace has facilitated the delivery of more than 2.2 million oversized items, including furniture, freight, vehicles, boats, motorcycles, equipment, and more for consumers, businesses, online sellers, and logistics enterprises, such as DB Schenker, Europe’s largest land transport company.
uShip Milestones
In July 2016, uShip announced its partnership with DB Schenker, which followed up with a $25M Series D investment in February 2017. uShip’s enterprise technology continues to power Drive4Schenker, an online trucking platform designed to expedite and streamline transport management to handle even larger volumes of freight. To date, uShip has raised $50 million in funding.
About uShip
uShip makes it quick, easy, and affordable to ship large or bulky items. From cars to cranes and furniture to freight, our straightforward and transparent platform helps people, businesses, e-commerce sellers, and multinational logistics companies ship with greater speed and efficiency. Launched in 2004, uShip is based in Austin, Texas. Find out more at uship.com, facebook.com/uship or on Twitter at @uship.
