Buy It on the Internet, Get It the Same Day.One of the biggest drawbacks to e-commerce is delayed gratification GRATIFICATION. A reward given voluntarily for some service or benefit rendered, without being requested so to do, either expressly or by implication. . A new company from the fertile Idealab incubator incubator, apparatus for the maintenance of controlled conditions in which eggs can be hatched artificially. Incubator houses with double walls of mud, a fireroom, and several compartments each holding about 6,000 hens' eggs were developed in ancient times; the aims to change all that. City of Industry-based Shipper SHIPPER. One who ships or puts goods on board of a vessel, to be carried to another place during her voyage. In general, the shipper is bound to pay for the hire of the vessel, or the freight of the goods. 1 Bouv. Inst. n. 1030. .com promises same-day delivery for Web purchases by linking up with e-tailers and bringing their products straight to consumers. Order an item by 2 p.m. from a Web business that is affiliated with Shipper.com and the product is supposed to be delivered by 8 p.m., seven days a week. "There weren't a compelling set of options out there for consumers. Order today and pay a reasonable price to wait a week for your order, or if you want anything the next day, pay $10 for air freight air freight n → flete m por avión air freight n → fret aérien air freight air n → Luftfracht f ," said Andrew Krainin, Shipper.com's senior vice president of marketing. The goal is to create a network of warehouses and delivery systems all over the nation. Maintaining a short distance to consumers can enable same-day delivery. The business launched on Oct. 13 in Los Angeles Los Angeles (lôs ăn`jələs, lŏs, ăn`jəlēz'), city (1990 pop. 3,485,398), seat of Los Angeles co., S Calif.; inc. 1850. with a 100,000-square-foot warehouse and a 10-van fleet. A system of computers and interfacing software, along with some 60 customer representatives, are housed at the City of Industry warehouse to facilitate customer service within a 60-mile radius, including the Inland Empire In·land Empire A region of the northwest United States between the Cascade Range and the Rocky Mountains, comprising eastern Washington, eastern Oregon, northern Idaho, and western Montana. Farming, lumbering, and mining are important to the area. and Orange County. The company is looking to provide real-time information to customers to verify product availability. Delivery rates will run $10 to $15, comparable to next-day shipping rates. In the past month, the company has opened a 75,000-square-foot warehouse in San Francisco San Francisco (săn frănsĭs`kō), city (1990 pop. 723,959), coextensive with San Francisco co., W Calif., on the tip of a peninsula between the Pacific Ocean and San Francisco Bay, which are connected by the strait known as the Golden , and six more will follow in New York New York, state, United States New York, Middle Atlantic state of the United States. It is bordered by Vermont, Massachusetts, Connecticut, and the Atlantic Ocean (E), New Jersey and Pennsylvania (S), Lakes Erie and Ontario and the Canadian province of , Atlanta, Chicago, Washington, D.C., Dallas, Seattle and either in Louisville, Ky. or Memphis, Tenn. Among the targeted e-tail items, Krainin said, are apparel, toys, tools and household furnishings. Products can weigh up to 70 pounds (groceries or heavily refrigerated re·frig·er·ate tr.v. re·frig·er·at·ed, re·frig·er·at·ing, re·frig·er·ates 1. To cool or chill (a substance). 2. To preserve (food) by chilling. items will not be transported). Once an e-tailer signs up, it agrees to supply its products for storage at the company's warehouses, and Shipper.com handles the delivery. Shipper.com charges retailers on a per-order basis, in addition to demanding delivery charges from consumers. Krainin would not reveal which online retailers have signed up, but he said announcements will come within the next month. The company's Web site will serve as a recruiting tool for e-commerce firms, as well as an address for consumers to track the status of their shipments. The idea for shipper.com came when founders and friends Alex Nesbitt and Tom Hansen were working at separate companies. Nesbitt, a consultant for Boston Consulting Group, and Hansen, an operations officer at Nissan, were kicking around an idea to create a network of warehouses for Nissan car parts, which at the time were distributed through a centralized cen·tral·ize v. cen·tral·ized, cen·tral·iz·ing, cen·tral·iz·es v.tr. 1. To draw into or toward a center; consolidate. 2. warehouse, delaying delivery. When Nesbitt was being courted by Idealab chief Bill Gross for another job, Nesbitt mentioned his idea, and the partners met. Krainin declined to comment on how much venture money has been raised because the company hopes to complete a second round of financing in the next few months. Jupiter Communications analyst Bill Schatsky estimates that the figure may be $150 million, though that still may not be enough. "Automated warehouses can cost tens of millions of dollars," Schatsky said. "Web Van (an online grocer) signed a contract earlier this year to develop a $1 billion distribution system around the country this year." |
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