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Volvo Cars, a leader in the field of connectivity in the automotive sector, said on Tuesday that it is partnering a Swedish start-up, ‘urb-it’, to disrupt the consumer delivery experience in Sweden by introducing a new service that promises in-car delivery of online shopping in under two hours.
In a statement issued Tuesday and obtained by AUTO REPORT AFRICA, the Swedish carmaker said the ground-breaking collaboration with Swedish start-up ‘urb-it’ will enable Volvo Cars to expand its tried and tested in-car delivery service and provide a foundation for a game-changing approach to delivery services, while reimagining how people use their cars.
“We understand the value of the in-car delivery service we have developed. We’ve all had phone calls at work from delivery people trying to deliver packages to our homes that need to be signed for when there is no one home.
“With our in-car delivery service, we effectively turn a car into a delivery location and assign a one-time digital key to the delivery person, effectively eliminating delivery failure,” Björn Annwall, Senior Vice President Marketing Sales and Service at Volvo Car Group, was quoted as saying in the statement.
urbers
urb-it’s real-time delivery service ensures consumers receive their orders within two hours of clicking the ‘buy’ button on their smartphone, radically changing the online shopping experience people are used to. The Swedish start-up employs students and other part-time workers who get paid per delivery, and uses geo-location and availability to select a personal ‘urber’, as the delivery people are known.
Each urber is strictly vetted by urb-it to ensure high-class service and traceability. The buyer always knows the name of the individual urber who is delivering their order. Once the urber receives the order details on their mobile device, they collect the merchandise from the store by presenting an order code. They then take the package and deliver it directly to the car in under two hours.
“It’s really quite simple, which is what makes it so effective. You shop online from an urb-it enabled store and simply choose to have the shopping delivered to your Volvo. This can be at a pre-determined time that suits you, or as quickly as possible. You can follow the collection and delivery process on your mobile device if you wish, or just wait for confirmation of delivery. If the package is not delivered within two hours, delivery is free,” continued Annwall.
Volvo Cars launched in-car delivery commercially on Black Friday 2015 together with Sweden’s largest distribution company and an online food store. The premium Swedish manufacturer is now offering a range of connected car services to its customers in selected markets utilising its digital key technology which allows Volvo owners to grant one-time access to their cars for in-car delivery purposes. Volvo Cars is working toward expanding this range of services to its customers around the globe.
Volvo Cars is adding urb-it to its in-car delivery services in Stockholm City for an initial trial period during 2016. Availability to Volvo owners will increase as the urb-it service expands to several European cities this year and to over 200 cities worldwide by 2025.
