Start-up DropIt offers shoppers a hand

Start-up firm DropIt, which offers users a hands-free shopping experience, is looking to partner with retailers and landlords across the globe in a bid to increase dwell time and sales in bricks-and-mortar retail premises.

The platform works by allowing customers to shop without the hassle of carrying bags. Shoppers can have their shopping delivered to their home, office or hotel on the same day as their shopping trip. The customer downloads the app, pays £10 a day for the service, and then can drop unlimited bags into any of DropIt’s partner stores or DropIt kiosks to be sent to their chosen destination through participating courier companies.

Couriers are selected depending on the delivery address and based on availability and cost. The service is available through participating retailers and landlords.

The app shows the customer where the participating shops and kiosks are, so that shopping bags can be left for same-day delivery to his or her front door.

As well as aiming to improve the overall retail experience, DropIt can also drive footfall and in-store sales.

“The average increase in ATV for participating stores is 140%,” says partnership director Kelly Scott. “It can increase dwell time and in-store transaction value – without bags, you can enjoy shopping a lot more. The aim for retailers is to drive that in-store purchase and this is an added reason to make it. It allows customers to stay in the area much more easily and then go out afterwards, which is much easier to do when you don’t have to carry bags.”

Boosting footfall

Among the challenges that retailers face at the moment, boosting footfall and in-store sales alongside online operations is one of the biggest, particularly when the costs of operating an efficient online model are taken into account.

Scott says: “There are a lot of challenges with the growth of online and the effect it has on shoppers. When shopping online generates a high percentage of returns, which is costly as retailers have to subsidise deliveries going out and back again. By that point it has added a lot of cost to operating the online model.”

The percentage of return rates for in-store purchases is significantly less – 3% compared with 30% of online sales, according to DropIt’s data. In light of this, DropIt also doubles as a logistics solution and could help ease the strain on retailers’ inner-city delivery.

“We are the only ones doing just first-mile delivery,” says Scott. “The first mile means we take care of everything in-store to the courier. We then give it to the courier at a fixed price. It is very simple and they do it all through the app – a bit like an Amazon Prime model for the high street.”

DropIt is operational on Regent Street and Oxford Street, W1, and since its launch in September 2016, it has partnered with more than 50 brands in the West End, including Urban Outfitters and AllSaints, as well as large landlords including the Crown Estate. Now it is looking to link up with landlords and retailers across the county, especially shopping centre owners.

“The real push for us now is to move into shopping malls,” says Scott. “We are already in talks with many UK landlords, as well as some outside the UK too. We are looking to build a network for the retailers as well as the malls, which have become much more lifestyle orientated – if someone goes shopping then wants to go on to the cinema, then the retailers benefit from the extra footfall.”

Customer insight

DropIt can also offer retailers insight into customer behaviour and shopping patterns by sharing its data with brands and landlords. This offers physical retailers the same level of insight on their offline customers as their online customers.

“This is where it is interesting for landlords,” Scott says. “This is why it is so well tailored for shopping malls. We have found there has been a disconnect between mall landlords and retailers, and this is a service that could provide a solution for both. The data can be used as a marketing tool that retailers and landlords could use for a certain kind of day or time of the week because it gives them a clear idea of who the shopper is.”