Industry Delivery Website Shutl.com Parent organization eBay | Key people Tom Allason Founded 2008 | |
 | ||
Products Transportation of goods Headquarters London, United Kingdom, United Kingdom Profiles | ||
Shutl is a London-based technology start-up offering a rapid fulfillment service by connecting online retailers with local same-day couriers. The startup company is best known for offering delivery of online shopping orders in 90 minutes or less. The company was founded in 2008 by tech entrepreneur Tom Allason.
Contents
- Shutl is shaking up online deliveries with speedy local couriers wired retail wired
- History
- Service
- 2010
- 2011
- 2012
- 2013
- Shutl bought out by Ebay
- Retail partners
- References
Shutl’s official launch took place on 9 December 2009 at LeWeb, a European Internet conference. Shutl has been featured on several international technology media outlets, including Mashable, Wired, and CNBC.
Shutl is shaking up online deliveries with speedy local couriers wired retail wired
History
Shutl received £500k of venture capital investment in October 2009. Investors included Dr. Simon Murdoch, Paul Birch, Mark Zaleski, and Big Bang Ventures of Belgium. Murdoch, who was previously Vice President of Amazon in Europe, joined the company’s board as non-executive chairman. Prior to launch in December 2009, founder Tom Allason was secretive about what precisely Shutl would be.
In the first several months of operations, Shutl was available in London only. Shutl completed its first delivery transaction in March 2010. The company’s initial growth rate was about 50 percent month on month. Company executives mapped out a plan early for growth within the UK and then internationally. One of the first major retailers to adopt the service in London was Argos, the UK’s largest multichannel retailer.
The United States Patent and Trademark Office granted Shutl an official trademark in August 2011. During the summer, the service expanded into Glasgow, Edinburgh, Leeds and Manchester, with service to Aberdeen, Belfast, Birmingham, Bristol, Cardiff and Liverpool following shortly thereafter. By Christmas that same year, Shutl extended its coverage to serve 50% of the UK’s online shoppers. By mid-2012, Shutl operated in more than 50 UK cities and towns, serving 70% of UK shoppers.
In 2012, Shutl executives began planning for a North American launch. The company received a $2 million investment from the UPS Strategic Enterprise Fund. The French post office, La Poste, has made a similar investment through its wholly owned subsidiary, Geopost. The company has raised a total of $7.9 million to date. Shutl was launched in February 2013.
Service
Shutl connects online shoppers, street-level retailers and independent package couriers to offer same-day delivery of purchases. The system functions in urban areas where retailers and shoppers are within ten miles of each other. Rather than a being separate web destination, Shutl is offered as a delivery option within the retailer’s online shopping cart. Shutl uses an algorithm to allocate each delivery to the optimal courier for that job.
With the aid of GPS, customers can track the progress of their order from the store to their home in real time. The company believes that through lean operations and smart software, the cost of same-day delivery can be brought down to a comparable price to traditional fulfillment solutions.
2010
Growing Business named Shutl founder Tom Allason as one of the “Young Guns 2007.” In 2010, Allason was included in Real Business’s 30:30 Club, a list of promising young entrepreneurs.
Startups UK named Shutl the Angel/VC Backed Business of the Year in 2010.
Shell LiveWIRE UK named Shutl founder Tom Allason a Shell LiveWIRE Young Entrepreneur of the Year Regional Award Winner in 2010.
2011
Shutl received several awards in 2011. Econsultancy named the company a winner in the category of Innovation in E-commerce. Shutl was Technology Breakthrough Business of the year, according to The Guardian. The UK IT Industry Awards awarded Shutl with the Innovation and Entrepreneurship Award. The company received a Bully Award from White Bull. Also in 2011, Shutl won the BT Retail Week Technology Award for supply chain excellence as well as the Retail Systems award for supply chain solution of the year.
2012
In 2012, Shutl offered Jamaican sprinter and Olympic champion, Usain Bolt a one-percent stake in the company in exchange for his endorsement. The company also won the 2012 DHL Online Fulfillment Initiative of the Year award, and Startups.co.uk ranked Shutl at number 1 in their top 100 startups of the year.
In November 2012, the company won the National Business Awards Start-up Business of the Year award.
2013
In January, Shutl won Best Transport, Travel or Environmental Startup at The Europas.
Shutl bought out by Ebay
On 23 October 2013, it was announced by Ebay that it had bought the firm and are aiming for one-hour delivery in the UK.
Retail partners
The following retailers have incorporated Shutl as one of their delivery options at checkout: