As the festive season clicks into gear Uber has introduced a new tool that allows shoppers arrange for an Uber courier to pick up and deliver last-minute prepaid items.
The Store Pickup feature is being made available via the Uber and Uber Eats apps throughout the month of December. In addition to solving shoppers’ last-minute needs it is also aiming to meet a broader demand for faster delivery with 80% of consumers saying they want same day shipping, and 61% saying they want their items within 1-3 hours of ordering.
Writing in a blog post, the company explained that once shoppers have purchased items from a local store, they just need to upload the receipt to the app before a courier will drop off the items to the chosen location.
Store Pickup is now live now across 1,700 U.S. cities and towns, and is one of several other holiday-themed products the company is offering in select locations.
Among them is its Robot Reindeer, which Uber has told customers to keep their eyes peeled for during the holiday period. The automated delivery robots will be delivering food in select locations such as Los Angeles, Miami and Fairfax, VA, throughout December.
It is also making returning unwanted gifts with Package Returns via Uber Connect. As part of the service, a courier will pick up as many as five prepaid and sealed packages before taking them to a post office, UPS or FedEx store, the firm said.
