In Partnership With Postmates, Apple Expands Same-Day Delivery To Its Web Store

In late May, Apple began offering same-day delivery of the various products and accessories it sells through its Apple Store app on mobile devices through a partnership with on-demand delivery startup Postmates. Now, that same option is being made available to consumers shopping on Apple’s web store. In select ZIP codes where Postmates operates, online shoppers will see a new delivery option called “courier delivery,” which promises to deliver the item in question within four hours.

The option is listed alongside other faster delivery choices including “guaranteed next day shipping,” for example. Shoppers report seeing “courier delivery” on the store pages for iPhone, iPod, iPad and Apple TV. In addition, “courier delivery” has also been added to Apple’s online documentation, which details how Shipping & Pickup works when shopping the Apple Store online.

This addition was first spotted by the blog 9to5Mac, and we’ve now been able to confirm that the expansion to its online store is, in fact, new.

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Image credit: 9to5Mac

 

Postmates currently operates in a number of major U.S. cities, offering delivery from local shops, markets, restaurants and more. However, support for Apple Store deliveries from within the Apple Store mobile app was limited to select San Francisco Bay Area ZIP codes at launch. Specifically, it was only available for residents from San Mateo to Santa Clara. Those same limitations are in place again with the expansion to the web, we understand. The fee for the same-day delivery service also remains unchanged at $19, which is $2 more than expedited next-day delivery.

In more recent days, Postmates has been forming partnerships with several big-name brands that didn’t previously offer delivery, much less same-day delivery. For example, earlier this spring, Postmates began powering deliveries for McDonald’s in New York and Chipotle. Starbucks has also been testing delivery via Postmates. The Apple partnership, however, was notable for being one of the bigger wins for the delivery service in the e-commerce space.

Postmates is now one of many companies tapping into consumers’ desire for instant gratification when shopping online. Others operating in this space range from venture-backed startups like grocery delivery service Instacart all the way up to e-commerce giants like Amazon, which today operates a one-hour delivery service Prime Now and has recently been expanding its same-day options to more markets. Even on-demand car services like Lyft and Uber are getting into the courier business.

Though the product selection and supported zip codes are still limited, assuming the Postmates pilot program with Apple goes well, it’s feasible that courier delivery would expand to other markets where Postmates operates in the future.

Update: We understand that the functionality is not fully live at this time, in case you’re not seeing the option appear for you just yet.