From click of mouse to your closet in 3 hours

The Daily Telegraph
May 28, 2012

WELCOME to the age of e-tailor 2.0, where you can buy an outfit with the click of the mouse – and be wearing it just hours later.

In the fight for your digital dollars, online clothes stores are luring customers with a range of ultra-express delivery services.

Sites such as The Iconic and StyleTread now offer three-hour delivery to certain areas for orders placed before 6pm.

This means you can order a new outfit at work on Friday and be wearing it well before you hit the town.

The Iconic has been offering a three-hour courier delivery since last November.

The service incurs a $4.95 charge but the delivery area extends from Penrith to the Sutherland Shire in Sydney’s southern suburbs and up to Palm Beach on the northern beaches.

Managing director Adam Jacobs said sales spiked towards the end of the week, with the majority of customers placing their orders around lunchtime.

“If you need a new dress for the weekend, it’s faster than going to the shops. Instead of having to drive there, park and browse you can jump on the website and by the time you’ve finished your blowdry it’s at the door,” he said.

Mr Jacobs said The Iconic even absorbed part of the loss of the courier fee to give it a competitive edge.

“I think what’s killing retail is poor customer service. We provide an experience to the customer that they’ve never had before,” he said. “People are willing to pay the full retail price, not just sales shopping. We don’t compete on price, we compete on the product range and how good our customer service is.”

Online shoe store StyleTread recently launched a free three-hour delivery in the Sydney metropolitan area.

“We have listened to our customers and are excited to provide them with what they’ve been asking for in terms of flexibility, convenience and more options,” managing director Mark Rowland said.

With convenience the key reason people shop online – it was identified by 83 per cent of respondents in a recent survey by Rackspace Hosting – demand for e-tailors is booming.

Australia Post reports the number of parcels being sent has increased 13 per cent since July last year, with 70 per cent of those generated by e-commerce.

“Last Christmas, we experienced unprecedented volumes of parcels due to online shopping, delivering an extra 100,000 parcels a day in December compared to a normal day,” an Australia Post spokeswoman said.

“There is no doubt the huge growth in parcels is due to Australians’ love of online shopping. We recently upgraded our online systems, Click and Send and eParcel, which now enables companies such as The Iconic to offer more delivery choices to their customers, such as day, date and time to have a parcel delivered.”