Shipt

Shipt is an American delivery service owned by Target Corporation. It is headquartered in Birmingham, Alabama.

Shipt, Inc.
Type of businessSubsidiary
Founded2014 (2014)
HeadquartersJohn Hand Building
Birmingham, Alabama, United States
Area servedMany metropolitan areas in the U.S.
Founder(s)Bill Smith
Key peopleKelly Caruso CEO[1]
IndustryRetail
Revenue US$1.0 billion (2018)
ParentTarget Corporation
URLshipt.com
Native client(s) oniOS, Android, Web

In December 2017, it was announced that Target Corporation was acquiring Shipt for $550 million and that it would operate as an independent subsidiary following the acquisition. As of 2018, Shipt delivers groceries, home products and select electronics.

History

Shipt was founded and initially funded by Bill Smith.[2] Before launching Shipt, Smith had built other businesses including a cellphone business, a small loan business, and a prepaid Visa card business.[2] The company soft-launched in November 2014 in Birmingham, Alabama with 1,000 pre-enrollment customers and officially launched in Birmingham in May 2015. By 2016, the service was available to 27 metro areas in 9 states.[3] The company initially targeted regions that had no grocery delivery services before expanding into other regions.[4]

In July 2016, Shipt received a $20 million Series A investment led by Greycroft Partners, e.ventures and Harbert Growth Partners.[5] The company said it planned to use the funding to develop partnerships and scale.[6] Shipt raised an additional $40 million in Series B funding in June 2017. The round was led by Greycroft Partners with participation from previous investors.[7] At the time of the investment the company operated in 47 markets across the U.S.[8]

On December 13, 2017, Target announced it would acquire Shipt for $550 million to improve its same-day shipping capabilities.[2][9][10] After the acquisition, Shipt continued to form delivery partnerships with retailers other than Target.[11] Following the acquisition, Target said it planned to use Shipt and its infrastructure to facilitate same-day delivery from a majority of its stores and that the service would be available for more than 55,000 products initially and that, by the end of the year, every major category of product would be included.[12] In March 2018, the company announced it was launching same-day delivery from Target stores in the Washington D.C., Baltimore, Anchorage, Fairbanks, Juneau[13] and New Orleans,[14] and the New England region the following month[15] with plans to deliver products in 170 markets by year-end.[16]

In March 2019, Shipt named Target veteran Kelly Caruso as its new CEO, succeeding founder Bill Smith, who continued with the company in an advisory role.[17][18]

Service

Shipt facilitates same-day delivery from various retailers to its members through either a smartphone app, available on iOS and Android platforms, or via their website.[19]

Having a Shipt membership enables customers to place orders for products from local retailers such as ABC Fine Wine & Spirits, Costco,[20] CVS, Harris Teeter, H-E-B, Jewel Osco, Kroger, Lucky's Market, Meijer,[21] Office Depot, OfficeMax, Publix, Safeway, Shaw's and Star Market, Target, Roche Bros., and Winn-Dixie. Customer orders are shopped and delivered by a fleet of more than 50,000 Shipt Shoppers across the country.

See also

References
  1. Patchen, Tyler (Mar 11, 2019). "Shipt taps Target exec, retail veteran as new CEO". Birmingham Business Journal. Retrieved March 12, 2019.
  2. Berger, Sarah (2018-08-11). "Shipt: How this 32-year-old high school dropout built a business that sold to Target for $550 million". CNBC. Retrieved 2020-06-26.
  3. Shieber, Jonathan. "Shipt raises $20 million to challenge Instacart and plants a flag for Alabama's startup ecosystem". TechCrunch. Retrieved 2017-03-30.
  4. "About - Shipt". Shipt. Retrieved 2017-03-30.
  5. Geron, Tomio (2016-07-27). "Shipt Bags $20M for Grocery Delivery". Wall Street Journal. ISSN 0099-9660. Retrieved 2017-03-30.
  6. Grocery Delivery Service Receives Series A Funding
  7. Shipt Raises $40 Million in Series B Funding
  8. Raises $40M in Latest Funding Deal
  9. "Target's Acquisition of Shipt Is a Wine for Alabama, but Coastal Investors Are the Biggest Victors". VentureBeat.
  10. Thomas, Lauren (2017-12-13). "Target to buy grocery delivery service Shipt for $550 million". CNBC. Retrieved 2017-12-13.
  11. Target's Shipt Is a Same-Day Delivery Service That Competes With Amazon
  12. Target Acquires Shipt, Will Roll Out $99/Year, Same-Day Delivery
  13. Target to Launch Same-Day Delivery Through Shipt in Washington, Baltimore
  14. Target is Launching Same-Day Grocery Deliveries in New Orleans Alaska
  15. Target Partners With Shipt For Delivery in Worcester Area Next Month
  16. Target starts same-day grocery delivery in Baltimore through Shipt
  17. "Kelly Caruso named Shipt CEO". www.bizjournals.com. Retrieved 2020-04-09.
  18. Mar. 12, WGB Staff on; 2019. "Shipt Names Target Exec Kelly Caruso CEO". Winsight Grocery Business. Retrieved 2020-04-09.CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  19. "Shipt Launches Same-Day Delivery From Target, Lidl, Kroger". The Virginian Pilot.
  20. Garcia, Tonya. "Costco expands grocery delivery through Florida partnership". MarketWatch. Retrieved 2017-03-30.
  21. "Meijer and Shipt launch grocery home delivery service". MLive.com. Retrieved 2017-03-30.
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