Delivery

Excited to talk about this big piece of news in the retail industry.

Yeah, so this week we are talking about delivery apps and more specifically tied to the news of DoorDash planning to acquire Instacart for $17 billion.

That came out last week.

But I think more specifically, we wanted to use this as an opportunity to talk about how companies like DoorDash, Uber, Instacart are all... pretty much positioning themselves as like discovery platforms, I'm doing scare quotes, rather than just logistics or delivery providers.

So I guess mainly maybe we could start out by talking about You know, when we started out covering retail, tech, et cetera, like almost for me a decade ago, DoorDash was pretty much just restaurant delivery, right? I don't know about you, but like it just, to me, it looks so different today than it did.

And it offers both retailers and consumers so much more than it ever has.

Yeah, it's so interesting.

You know, I feel like as retail tech reporters, we would see announcements periodically here and there like DoorDash added this retailer or uber added this retailer but it didn't really hit me i feel like there's just a couple times when because i don't use doordash or uber daily but it just would hit me sometimes when i would open the app and i was like wow there's a lot here like it's not just restaurant delivery anymore um so it's been really interesting to just watch that periodically again connecting the dots between like different announcements or when i would open the app But then to see the news that DoorDash is acquiring Instacart, I feel like it just solidifies this idea.

So yeah, but let me chat about that a little bit.

So like one thing that surprisingly not all stores are doing, I think almost everybody, if you can, should try to do is to show the delivery date or your estimated delivery date on the product pages and in the checkout.

So this is like a classic Amazon thing.

So right near the add to cart button, you'll see a little message that says arrives by Tuesday if ordered by 2 p.m. or something like that.

Obviously, you know, certain delays are unavoidable, but you know, And Shopify actually makes this easier now than it used to be.

And now like in checkout, you can enable this feature where you just put in like what's your typical like ship time and your shipping carriers.

And then it'll show that delivery date at checkout.

I believe it might take a little bit of custom coding or tweaking to get it on the product pages as well.

And for those who haven't listened before the Executive Briefing, Gloria, you're a member of the founding council, kind of like Lord of the Rings, but way cooler.

The industry's leadership council for CPG, and just very honored that you're representing the lane that you own and represent is Last Mile and Delivery Commerce.

Just very excited to have you on, but I don't want to assume everybody knows you.

Before we dive into our questions here, Gloria, would you mind introducing yourself and the company you're with?

Gloria, this has been extremely helpful.

Again, so honored to have you.

A member of the founding council, you own this lane of Last Mile and Delivery Commerce, and this was wonderful to have you on.

Can't wait to record again and just wanted to say thank you so much.

Well, we'll talk about takeaway.

When you guys started doing delivery and COVID, and I know it became sort of 15% of the business at some point.

But you guys and the CEO of Delivery said you were the first to do the packaging differently to anyone else.

Can you take us through that?

Yeah, so what do you think of that? I'm sorry.

Now let's take a look at news from the warehouse segment, specifically picking, packing, and order fulfillment.

Our October 2026 special focus issue entitled Automation Streamlines Warehouse Picking, Packing, and Delivery was released, including these three feature articles.

Toyota Automated Logistics, which provides options and a Swiss Army knife of technologies for its customers.

Osaro SiteWorks advances AI-powered robotic picking and packing.

Based on this experience, Mark frequently advises clients in the consumer goods, retail, energy, and industrial industries in regards to their logistic strategies and operations.

Mark's also a frequent guest speaker at industry conferences on various topics, uh, in, related to transportation and logistics, and also is a co-author of AlixPartners' Home Delivery and Final Mile Logistics, Logistics Report, and also the Container Shipping Outlook.

Mark holds a Bachelor's of Science in Business Logistics from Pennsylvania State University, also more commonly known as Penn State.

Hey, Mark, uh, welcome back to the podcast.

That's great.

Nice overview.

Um, so Mark, earlier this year, AlixPartners issued its 2026 US Consumer and Executive Home Delivery Survey results.

Um, I'd just be curious to hear from you what you thought were some of the biggest takeaways.

Kitchen, Küche.

Delivery means ordering food to be brought to your location rather than eaten on-site.

Delivery, Lieferung.

Takeaway refers to food ordered to take home or eat elsewhere after being prepared.

Takeaway, Takeaway.