Tag: shipt

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Shipt’s new feature pairs members with their favorite, 5-star shoppers

Target’s same-day delivery service Shipt is launching a new feature that will pair customers with their favorite shoppers on future orders. This “Preferred Shoppers” feature will be available as a membership-only perk at no extra charge, offering customers what Shipt believes will be a more reliable shopping experience, where more of members’ orders are directed towards people they already known and trust to do a good job.

The feature arrives at a time when the online grocery delivery market is booming due to the pandemic. But this market shift has also led to a number of newer shoppers joining the gig economy who don’t have the same level of experience as others.

Today, you’ll come across some shoppers who excel at picking quality items, making great substitutions, and staying in close communication with their customers. Others, meanwhile, are checking out before you even have time to respond to their text about the product replacements they’ve made or the refunds they’ve put through. That can leave consumers feeling like online grocery shopping is an unreliable experience. The Preferred Shoppers feature aims to change that.

As Shipt explains, customers who rate their shopper with five stars after their order is complete will be presented with the option to add the shopper to their Preferred Shoppers list. If the shopper accepts this request, they’ll be prioritized to shop for those customers in the future. (If the shopper declines, however, that won’t be shown the customer.) This list can be edited at any time, and if a customer downrates a shopper on a future order, they’ll be removed.

Image Credits: Shipt

The feature was developed in response to feedback from both shoppers and Shipt regulars, the company says. Consumers, in particular, had been asking for a way to be paired with their favorite shoppers who they already trusted to handle their orders correctly. But until now, whether or not that shopper would be available to grab the customer’s order was left mostly up to chance. The shopper would have had to see the order come in as it arrived, then grab it before someone else did.

During early tests, which included the Detroit metro, Shipt found the feature impacted its own bottom line and increased shoppers’ tips. Without providing specific metrics, the company said that customers using the feature would order more often and would rate their experience highly. Shoppers also benefitted because they were now serving customers who valued their work and who were expressing their appreciation with a larger tip.

“The more often a shopper shops for a customer, the more they learn about that customer’s wants and needs and are able to deliver a tailored shopping experience,” said Karl Varsanyi, Chief Experience & Product Officer at Shipt, in a statement. “Preferred Shoppers helps customers get the exceptional service they enjoy again and again,” he added.

The feature could also motivate shoppers to focus on building up a quality clientele, so they had a better shot at being assigned orders from customers they enjoyed working with and where they could expect to see higher tips. Over time, as customers add more shoppers to their Preferred Shopper list, the likelihood of being paired with a highly-rated shopper would improve, too. This could perhaps help to address some gig workers complaints over their work being undervalued, where bonuses are placed out of reach and customers are stingy with tips.

The idea for personal shoppers is not new. A startup called Dumpling has been developing a platform that allows gig economy workers to transition their clients off apps like Shipt and Instacart to a service where shoppers set their own rates and get to keep all their tips. But many consumers aren’t aware of Dumpling unless a shopper they know markets the service to them directly. Plus, usage of Dumpling isn’t free.

In addition, while Shipt offers delivery from a number of top retailers, being owned by Target has other advantages. The service is now integrated into Target’s own website and mobile app, and Target products aren’t marked up on an individual basis, like you sometimes see on other services.

Currently, Shipt’s membership is $99 per year, offering free delivery on all orders over $35. The Preferred Shoppers feature will be made available to all U.S. members, starting today.

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Amazon expands same-day Prime delivery to 6 more U.S. cities

Amazon announced this morning it’s expanding its faster, same-day delivery service to half a dozen more U.S. cities. The service, which the retailer has been working to make same-day delivery even faster over the past year, now offers consumers in a number of markets the ability to shop up to 3 million items on Amazon.com, then receive their orders in only a few hours.

To do so, Amazon invested in what it called “mini-fulfillment centers” closer to where customers lived in select U.S. markets, initially in Philadelphia, Phoenix, Orlando, and Dallas. Those customers could then shop across a dozen merchandise categories, including Baby, Beauty & Health, Kitchen & Dining, Electronics, Pet Supplies, and more. As the pandemic continued to impact Amazon’s business, in November 2020, Amazon expanded its faster same-day service to more cities, to include Nashville and Washington, D.C.

With today’s expansion, Amazon is rolling out same-day delivery to Prime members in Baltimore, Chicago, Detroit, Tampa, Charlotte, and Houston, bringing the total markets served to 12. In these markets, shoppers will be able to place orders online throughout the day then have items on their doorstep in as fast as 5 hours, Amazon says. Customers can also place orders by midnight to have their orders arrive the following morning.

The service continues to be free with no additional charges on orders over $35 that qualify for same-day delivery. Orders under $35 have a $2.99 fee for Prime customers, and a $12.99 fee for non-members. Prime membership, meanwhile, is $12.99 per month or $119 per year.

The time frame commitments for same-day delivery are the same as those Amazon promised last year when it first announced its plans to speed up Prime delivery. Orders placed between midnight and 8 AM will arrive today by 1 PM. Orders placed between 8 AM and 1 PM arrive by 6 PM; those placed between 1 PM and 5 PM will arrive by 10 PM; and those placed between 5 PM and midnight will arrive overnight by 8 AM. That means customers can place orders fairly late and receive their items before they head out of the house the next day.

Faster same-day delivery has been one of the most significant services Amazon has used to challenge rivals like Walmart and Target, who both benefit from having a large brick-and-mortar footprint that allows them to more quickly serve their customers through same-day order pickup, curbside pickup, and same-day delivery services. While Walmart partners with third-parties on its same-day service, Express delivery, largely focused on grocery, Target acquired delivery service Shipt in 2017 to bring its fast delivery services in-house.

In response to the growing competition, Amazon has been recently acquiring smaller warehouse space inside major urban metros, including in these six new markets where it’s now announcing same-day delivery, as well as larger markets, like New York, and even suburban neighborhoods. It also acquired Whole Foods for $137.7 billion in 2017, not only to more fully participate in the online grocery business, but also in part because of its large retail footprint.

As Amazon has sped up the pace of what’s available under “Prime” delivery, it has wound down its older “Prime Now” business, which was retired Aug. 30 and will be fully shut down by year-end. The separate app had allowed customers to shop items that were available in one or two hours for an additional fee.

The news follows Amazon’s earning miss last week, when the retailer fell short of Wall St.’s estimates for revenue, and gave a weaker than-expected outlook for the quarter ahead, which Amazon attributed to difficult comparisons with a time frame that included Covid lockdowns during height of the pandemic in 2020. The company reported $113.08 billion in revenue and earnings of $15.12, versus expectations of $115.2 billion and $12.30.

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Walmart drops the $35 order minimum on its 2-hour ‘Express’ delivery service

In a move designed to directly challenge Amazon, Walmart today announced it’s dropping the $35 minimum order requirement for its two-hour “Express” delivery service, a competitor to Amazon’s “Prime Now.”  With Walmart Express Delivery, customers can order from Walmart’s food, consumables or general merchandise assortment, then pay a flat $10 fee to have the items arrive in two hours or less.

The service is useful for more urgent delivery needs — like diapers or a missing ingredient for a recipe, SVP of Customer Product, Tom Ward, noted in an announcement. They’re not meant to sub in for larger shopping trips, however — Express orders are capped at 65 items.

Today, Express Delivery is available in nearly 3,000 Walmart stores reaching 70% of the U.S. population, Walmart says. It builds on top of stores’ existing inventory of pickup and delivery time slots as a third option, instead of giving slots away to those with the ability to pay higher fees.

Like Walmart’s grocery and pickup orders, Express orders are shopped and packaged for delivery by Walmart’s team of 170,000 personal shoppers and items are priced the same as they are in-store. This offers Walmart a potential competitive advantage against grocery delivery services like Instacart or Shipt, for example, where products can be priced higher and hurried or inexperienced shoppers aren’t always able to find items or search the back, having to mark them as “out of stock.”

In theory, Walmart employees will have a better understanding of their own store’s inventory and layout, making these kind of issues less common. It will also have direct access to the order data, which will help it better understand what sells, what replacements customers will accept for out-of-stocks, when to staff for busy times, and more.

In addition to grocery delivery, Express Delivery competes with Amazon’s Prime Now, a service that similarly offers a combination of grocery and other daily essentials and merchandise. Currently, Prime Now’s 2-hour service has a minimum order requirement of $35 without any additional fees in many cases — though the Prime Now app explains that some of its local store partners will charge fees even when that minimum is met, and others may have higher order minimums, which makes the service confusing to consumers.

Walmart’s news comes at a time when Amazon appears to be trying to push consumers away from the Prime Now standalone app, too.

When you open the Prime Now app, a large pop-up message informs you that you can now shop Whole Foods and Amazon Fresh from inside the Amazon app. A button labeled “Make the switch” will then redirect you. Meanwhile, on Amazon’s website touting Prime’s delivery perks, the “Prime Now” brand name isn’t mentioned at all. Instead, Amazon touts free same-day (5 hour) delivery of best sellers and everyday essentials on orders with a $35 minimum purchase, or free 2-hour grocery delivery from Whole Foods and Fresh.

When asked why Amazon is pushing Prime Now shoppers to its main app, Amazon downplayed this as simply an ongoing effort to “educate” consumers about the option.

Walmart, on the other hand, last year merged its separate delivery apps into one.

After items are picked, Walmart works with a network of partners, including DoorDash, Postmates, Roadie, and Pickup Point, as well as its in-house delivery services, to get orders to customers’ doorsteps. This last-mile portion has become an key area of investment for Walmart and competitors in recent months — Walmart, for example, acquired assets from a peer-to-peer delivery startup JoyRun in November. And before that, a former Walmart delivery partner, Deliv, sold to Target.

This is not the first time Walmart has dropped order minimums in an attempt to better compete with Amazon and others.

In December, Walmart announced its Prime alternative known as Walmart+ would remove the $35 minimum on non-same day Walmart.com orders. But it had stopped short of extending that perk to same-day grocery until now.

To some extent, Walmart’s ability to drop minimums has to do with the logistics of its delivery operations. Walmart has been turning more its stores into fulfillment centers, by converting some into small, automated warehouses in partnership with technology providers and robotics companies, including Alert Innovation, Dematic and Fabric.

And because its stores are physically located closer to customers than Amazon warehouses, it has the ability to deliver a broad merchandise selection, faster, while also turning large parking lots into picking stations — another thing that could worry Amazon, which is now buying up closed mall stores for its own fulfillment operations. 

Walmart today still carries a $35 minimum on other pickup and delivery orders and same-day orders from Walmart+ subscribers.

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Shipt shoppers are organizing a walkout in protest of new pay model

Shipt shoppers are organizing a handful of actions in protest of Shipt’s new pay structure that began rolling out this month.  The first action is happening from Saturday, Oct. 17 through Oct. 19, when workers are calling on their fellow Shipt shoppers to walk out and boycott the company. Organizers are asking for shoppers not to schedule any hours or accept any orders during that time.

“Our goal is to draw attention to the fact that this pay scale really does affect shoppers and regardless of Shipt’s position of it taking into account effort and benefitting shoppers, we are finding it is the opposite on both fronts,” Willy Solis, a Shipt shopper in Dallas and lead organizer at Gig Workers Collective, told TechCrunch. “It’s not holding up to the true reality. We are getting paid less for more effort.”

Shipt shoppers also plan to stage a direct action at Target’s corporate headquarters in Minneapolis, Minnesota on Monday, October 19. During the action, shoppers plan to read letters written to Shipt CEO Kelly Caruso that describe how the pay changes have impacted them.

Shipt shoppers have been speaking out against this new pay model since earlier this year, after Shipt started testing this new pay structure. In February, a Shipt shopper from Kalamazoo told me they were losing about 30% or more of their regular pay as a result of the change.

According to Target-owned Shipt, it’s doing this to “better account for the actual effort it takes to complete and deliver orders,” Shipt wrote in the Shipt Shopper Hub. That means the new pay model takes into account estimated drive time from the store to the customer’s door, how many items are in the order, location, peak shopping windows and more. But Shipt isn’t sharing an exact formula for calculating pay because “each metro has unique characteristics that can affect the shopping experience.”

On the blog, Shipt also points to how similarly priced orders might pay differently as a result of the effort it takes. For example, if the order total is $100 but is only one item versus 30 items, the latter order scenario would take more effort. That means the shopper would get paid more for that order with more items. But Solis said that’s an anomaly and that the majority of shoppers don’t receive orders like that.

“To base an entire pay structure off of an anomaly like that is really concerning,” he said.

Meanwhile, Solis said he’s found discrepancies between the way Shipt talks about its formula for calculating pay. In July, Shipt published a blog post about shop time. In it, the company laid out how it thinks about things like the location of the item, size of store and more. In the original post, which has since been updated, Shipt said it did not take into account checkout time, nor was it trying to gain insight about it.

Image Credits: Willy Solis/Screenshot

After shoppers expressed frustration about it in a Facebook group, Solis noticed that Shipt deleted that part from its blog post.

Image Credits: Willy Solis/Screenshot

“They literally said they are not interested in taking into account checkout times, which is a considerable amount of time shoppers spend in stores,” Solis said.

Shipt shoppers have staged actions before, but Solis said this one is receiving the most support to date. As part of the call-to-action, Gig Workers Collective is also asking Shipt shoppers to spread the word to at least five other workers they know.

TechCrunch is awaiting comment from Shipt. We’ll update this story when we hear back.

Shipt shoppers are the latest gig workers to organize

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Workers prepare to strike May 1, amid strained pandemic working conditions

The global pandemic has tested the bounds of businesses across the world and transformed the way many of us live our lives. For those among us who are unable to leave our homes at all as COVID-19 virus rages, online retail and food services have been a kind of lifeline.

But as contact-free delivery becomes the norm, it can be easy to forgot all the people working to provide those services at risk to their health. And more often than not, employees are working for low wages or tips.

A number of protests have been organized at companies like Amazon and Instagram in the intervening weeks and months, but a wide-scale, cross-company event hasn’t really surfaced. That could change on May 1, as employees mark the longstanding tradition of International Workers’ Day with a May Day general strike.

Material for the event has been circulating online, rebadged “Essential Workers’ Day,” as a nod to the exemptions to stay at home orders for retail and food delivery, among others. The event is framed as a combination strike and boycott, targeted at Amazon/Whole Foods, Instacart and Target/Shipt (as well as Walmart and FedEx, according to various sources). 

Specific demands differ from employer to employer, but workers have broadly asked for essential health protections, sick leave and hazard pay as the pandemic has continued to wear on and profits have spiked for many providers. 

Vice spoke to Christian Smalls, one of the organizers, the Staten Island Amazon employee who was fired after organizing a walkout at one of the company’s fulfillment centers. “We formed an alliance between a bunch of different companies because we all have one common goal which is to save the lives of workers and communities,” he told the site. “Right now isn’t the time to open up the economy. Amazon is a breeding ground [for COVID] which is spreading right now through multiple facilities.”

Amazon fires two more employees who were openly critical of working conditions during pandemic

Amazon workers have been particularly vocal about the retail giant’s response to the pandemic. In addition to Smalls, two other employees who were publicly critical of the company were fired by Amazon — though the company denied the direct link. Instacart employees have also organized boycotts and strikes, including one in late March.

“We remain singularly focused on the health and safety of the Instacart community. Our team has been diligently working to offer new policies, guidelines, product features, resources, increased bonuses, and personal protective equipment to ensure the health and safety of shoppers during this critical time,” the company said in a statement. “We welcome all feedback from shoppers and we will continue to enhance their experience to ensure this important community is supported.”

Other companies have previously issued similar statements regarding employment during the crisis. We’ve reached out to them for additional comment on the planned protests.

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Gig workers say they are struggling to get personal protective equipment from companies

Despite what companies have said about providing personal protective equipment to gig workers, some workers say they are struggling to get masks, gloves and other items from companies like Target-owned Shipt, Uber, Lyft and Instacart.

“PPE is still a huge issue for us,” Shipt shopper and organizer Willy Solis told TechCrunch. “We have dozens of reports across the country where shoppers have gone to pick up their equipment to be told it’s only for employees. On top of that, Target’s Twitter account essentially said that much.”

Earlier this month, Shipt workers staged a walk-off in protest of Shipt’s treatment of workers amid the COVID-19 pandemic. Around that time, Shipt said it would provide all shoppers with gloves and a mask within the next two weeks. Those shoppers, Shipt said, would be able to pick them up at their nearest Target stores. Shipt said it also would allow its most active shoppers to claim a free kit that included gloves and hand sanitizer. But some shoppers report struggling to pick up the PPE at Target and through the Shipt app.

Shipt declined to comment for this story but pointed us to both Shipt’s and Target’s respective announcements.

Over in Los Angeles, some Uber and Lyft drivers say the rideshare companies have yet to provide them with face masks and other protective equipment. This is in light of LA Mayor Eric Garcetti’s Worker Protection Order, which requires companies to provide essential workers with PPE.

“As an Uber driver, I’m incredibly vulnerable to infection,” Uber driver Deborah Garcia said in a statement. “I transport dozens of passengers every day, and many are the doctors and nurses dealing with coronavirus cases up close. Uber and Lyft love to talk about drivers as heroes on the frontlines, but what does it say about these companies that they’d rather brainstorm clever hashtags than use even a small slice of their billions to keep drivers like me safe? It’s infuriating, and it’s time for our elected officials to take action.”

Uber says it’s begun distributing masks to active drivers and delivery workers throughout the nation, initially focused on New York City and Los Angeles. Active drivers and delivery people in Los Angeles who have requested masks should receive them in the mail by the end of this week, according to Uber.

“This is a long term commitment,” an Uber spokesperson told TechCrunch. “We have ordered tens of millions of masks for drivers around the world and expect another major shipment to the US very soon.”

Uber says it has also started shipping around 30,000 bottles of disinfectant. Lyft, in response to claims that the company is not providing PPE, says what drivers are saying is not true.

“In light of the latest CDC guidance on cloth face coverings, we’ve ordered face masks for drivers at no cost to them,” a Lyft spokesperson told TechCrunch. “We have been making them available to drivers, prioritizing regions where additional guidance about face coverings has been given. This includes LA, where we’ve already begun handing out thousands of face coverings to drivers.”

Lyft began distributing masks last Saturday, and distributed some more this past Monday and Wednesday. Lyft plans to distribute more on Friday. So far, Lyft says it has been able to hand out thousands of masks.

There are also reports that Instacart shoppers are having difficulty obtaining hand sanitizer and reusable face masks, according to The Hill. Instacart says it has been providing shoppers with hand sanitizer since last week and began shipping thousands of kits with face masks, sanitizer and thermometers this past Monday.

Nationwide, there is an understanding that gig workers delivering food and groceries, and providing rides to people during the pandemic are essential. As more cities begin to implement rules requiring people to wear masks upon entering grocery stores, companies will be forced to step up their production and delivery of personal protective equipment to workers.

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Target’s Shipt shoppers are walking off work today

Shipt shoppers, which began organizing in February, are staging their first action today. Yesterday, a group of Shipt shoppers, who shop and deliver orders from Target and other stores, announced their plans to walk off today. The walk-off is in protest of the way Shipt has treated its shoppers amid the COVID-19 pandemic, Vice first reported.

“Unless you get tested for COVID-19 or you’re half dead, Shipt’s not going to care,” Iowa-based Shipt shopper Angie Kufner tells TechCrunch.

Kufner hasn’t been working for the past couple of weeks because she’s been feeling ill, but Shipt has not provided her with sick pay, even though Shipt provides workers diagnosed with COVID-19 up to two weeks worth of sick pay. Kufner’s experience is just one example of why shoppers are demanding the company extend that policy to include those who are immunocompromised or have a note from a doctor telling them to stay home. Currently, Shipt says it determines eligibility for sick pay on a case by case basis.

“I guarantee you there are a lot more people who have felt like crap,” Kufner says. “The stores are totally unsafe. It’s not worth the $6 they’re going to pay you to go in the store.”

In addition to extending the sick pay policy, shoppers at Ship are demanding hazard pay of $5 per order and personal protective equipment for everyone. Additionally, Shipt shoppers are demanding the company reinstate its original transparent pay structure, make tips transparent and stop exploiting new workers.

“To me, they’ve proven it’s profit over people,” Kufner says of Shipt and Target . “They don’t care about shoppers or the customers because at this point they’re putting customers at risk when these shoppers aren’t protected themselves inside the stores. It’s frustrating because Target and Shipt are both making a fortune with all the new customers and all the new orders and they’ve done almost nothing to support the shoppers.”

In an updated blog post yesterday, Shipt said all shoppers will be provided with gloves and a mask within the next two weeks. Shipt says it has also sent its most active shoppers information on how to claim a free kit that includes gloves and hand sanitizer.

“We are so proud of our shopper community and how they’ve responded to the increase in demand and the opportunity to serve their communities,” a Shipt spokesperson said in a statement. “We are focused on supporting them during this time with health and safety precautions, protective equipment and financial assistance. Our shoppers have been delivering record volumes to our members, and they continue to schedule themselves to shop commensurate with what we’ve seen throughout the pandemic.”

Shipt shoppers are the latest gig workers to organize

Prior to the pandemic, Shipt shoppers had begun expressing their dismay toward the company. In January, Shipt started testing a new pay structure where, instead of basing it on cart size, Shipt takes into account the time it takes to complete and deliver an order.

Prior to the changes, shoppers had received a $5 flat rate and 7.5% of the total store receipt, one shopper, who asked to remain anonymous, previously told TechCrunch.

“We are losing money as shoppers at a ridiculous rate,” a shopper from Kalamazoo previously told TechCrunch. “A very good, close friend of mine told me in the three weeks since the new structure was implemented, she has lost the equivalent of a car payment. It is a lot of money. Our best guestimation is, we’re all losing about 30% or more. I did four orders this past weekend and I lost money on every single one.”

Now, Shipt workers have joined the likes of workers at Instacart, Amazon, Whole Foods and others that are demanding better protections during this global health crisis.

Amid strikes from workers at Instacart, the company began implementing some changes but still has yet to meet all of their demands. A few days ago, Instacart finally began offering shoppers face masks, hand sanitizers and thermometers. One day later, DoorDash said it was investing in getting more personal protective equipment for its delivery workers.

It’s now widely understood that gig workers are providing essential services during these times, as many cities have enacted shelter-in-place ordinances and as vulnerable people are remaining at home in order to reduce their risk of exposure to the virus.

“Shipt has lowered pay, used shoppers vehicles without fuel or maintenance reimbursement, ignored a faulty rating system, and never paid for healthcare or insurance,” one Shipt shopper said in a statement. “Now they are sending shoppers into stores during a pandemic with no pay increase, no PPE, and no guidance. Shipt is treating it’s shoppers as expendable while advertising to customers as a personal concierge service.”

In addition to the walk-off, organizers are calling for customers to boycott the app on Friday, April 10.

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Grocery delivery apps see record downloads amid coronavirus outbreak

As the COVID-19 pandemic spreads across the U.S., grocery delivery apps have begun seeing record numbers of daily downloads, according to new data from app store intelligence firm Apptopia. On Sunday, online grocery apps including Instacart, Walmart Grocery, and Shipt hit yet another new record for daily downloads for their respective apps, the firm says.

Comparing the average daily downloads in February to yesterday (Sunday, March 15), Instacart, Walmart Grocery, and Shipt have seen their daily downloads surge by 218%, 160%, and 124%, respectively.

Typically, these apps (except for Shipt) see tens of thousands to as many as twenty thousand-plus downloads per day. But on Sunday, Instacart saw over 38,500 downloads and Walmart Grocery saw nearly 54,000 downloads, the firm says. Shipt, though hitting record numbers, saw only 7,285 downloads on Sunday. To some extent, its lower figures could be due to Target’s move to integrate Shipt’s grocery delivery service, which it owns, into its main app.

In fact, the Target app has also broken records for daily downloads, the report found. On Sunday, Target’s app saw over 53,100 daily downloads when a month ago, it was seeing 25,000+.

Walmart very recently announced it would merge its grocery delivery service into its main app, as Target has done. But for now, consumers are still seeking out and downloading its standalone grocery app at record levels.

These grocery delivery apps are in demand more than ever during this health crisis.

With government mandates to practice “social distancing,” U.S. consumers have been stocking up for long weeks to be spent at home. Stores were cleared of key supplies, like toilet paper, and several also saw long lines and crowds as panic-buying set in. Grocery delivery and pickup, meanwhile, presents an easier option — as well as one where you could limit your exposure to other people. With grocery pickup, consumers only have to interact with a single store employee from their curbside parking space. And with grocery delivery, most orders can simply be left on the doorstep with no person-to-person contact required.

Several grocery delivery services, including Instacart and others, promoted the fact they would add a “contactless” delivery option which help contribute to the huge sales boost. On Thursday, Instacart said its sales growth rates for the week was 10 times higher than the week before, and had increased by as much as 20 times in areas like California, New York, Washington, and Oregon.

Apptopia’s report didn’t analyze the impact of the coronavirus outbreak on Amazon’s grocery delivery business, which includes Amazon Fresh and Whole Foods deliveries. This is more difficult to do because Amazon grocery orders aren’t placed inside a dedicated app, as with Instacart. However, Amazon confirmed a technical glitch on Sunday affected online orders through both its grocery delivery services, which the company attributed to the increase in online shopping.

“As COVID-19 has spread, we’ve seen a significant increase in people shopping online for groceries,” an Amazon spokeswoman explained, in a statement shared with Bloomberg. “This resulted in a systems impact affecting our ability to deliver Amazon Fresh and Whole Foods Market orders [on Sunday night]. We’re contacting customers, issuing concessions, and are working around the clock to quickly to resolve the issue,” they added.

Amazon Prime is also expected to experience delays and shortages as consumers stock up on non-grocery household items, the company says.

But even as grocery delivery booms, the market for food delivery apps has not seen the same results.

Despite promises for contactless delivery from several providers, including Uber Eats, food delivery apps are not experiencing a similar surge in daily downloads. According to Apptopia, the food delivery market earlier in March was starting to cool off. It later began to pick up but then cooled off again as consumers realized the expense of ordering food compared with home cooking, and because some consumers view restaurant delivery as not being as safe as cooking at home.

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Shipt shoppers are the latest gig workers to organize

Inspired by the work of Instacart shoppers over the last few years, a handful of workers at Target-owned Shipt, a grocery delivery service, are beginning to organize. With the help of two key Instacart shopper-activists, Vanessa Bain and Sarah Clarke, who goes by a pseudonym, Shipt workers are now demanding better wages and the elimination of what some describe as a culture of fear.

“We want to be the first responders,” Clarke tells TechCrunch. “Whenever gig workers find out there is a pay cut or some type of issue, they’ll feel comfortable coming to us.”

In January, Shipt started testing a new pay structure where, instead of basing it on cart size, Shipt takes into account the time it takes to complete and deliver an order. Shipt implemented these changes in Kalamazoo, Mich., San Antonio and Philadelphia. As Gizmodo reported earlier this month, there was some shopper backlash.

Prior to the changes, shoppers had received a $5 flat rate and 7.5% of the total store receipt, one shopper, who asked to remain anonymous, told TechCrunch.

“We are losing money as shoppers at a ridiculous rate,” a shopper from Kalamazoo tells TechCrunch. “A very good, close friend of mine told me in the three weeks since the new structure was implemented, she has lost the equivalent of a car payment. It is a lot of money. Our best guestimation is, we’re all losing about 30% or more. I did four orders this past weekend and I lost money on every single one.”

But Shipt says its goal is to maximize the earning potential for its shoppers and to make sure they get the most value for their time spent. That’s why Shipt is testing this new pay structure in certain markets to better account for time spent shopping and delivering orders, Shipt Director of Corporate Communications and Outreach Julie Coop told TechCrunch.

“In this structure, shoppers are guaranteed to make at least the minimum in the pay range shown at the time the order is offered to them,” Coop said. “That range is based on the estimated amount of time the order will take to complete. We’ve seen pay levels remain consistent overall, and in some markets slightly higher. As always, Shipt Shoppers receive 100% of their tips on top of order pay.”

Shipt connected me with Stacy Smith, who shops for Shipt in Kalamazoo, Mich. Smith tells TechCrunch she has no issue with the new policy, saying that she’s actually seen a slight increase in her pay. While it was more attractive and economical for her to get bigger orders in the old pay model, the size of the order now doesn’t matter.

“I’m now getting a little less pay in larger-size orders and a little bit increase in the middle or smaller orders, which is the abundance of them,” Smith says. “If we’re not getting paid a little bit more for those smaller to mid-sized orders, that makes sense to me. The big picture is we used to get upset because we had these small or mid-sized orders. But now we get paid a little more for those orders.”

At this point, it’s not clear how many of Shipt’s workers are for or against this new pay structure. Still, a number of workers reached out to Clarke and Bain once the pay structure started rolling out.

“Shipt has been pretty under the radar,” Clarke said. “No one is really paying attention to them — mostly because the workers are scared to speak out.”

Willy Solis, who shops for Shipt in the Dallas area, is one of the shoppers who reached out to Clarke.

“I’ve followed Sarah and Vanessa’s work and their efforts over on Instacart, because I’m on that platform as well,” Solis tells TechCrunch. “I’ve been seeing what they’ve been able to accomplish, so when Sarah asked in our group lounge if anyone is interested in talking, I jumped at it.”

Solis says he had been thinking about organizing for some time, but there had been no catalyst for him and other workers to do something. Now, Solis is working with Clarke and Bain through their Gig Workers Collective to figure out their strategy moving forward.

“While I am afraid of being deactivated due to speaking out, I am hopeful Shipt will hear the Shipt shopper communities voice as a collective whole, rather than censoring and ignoring dissenting concerns,” he says.

There are two main Facebook groups where Shipt shoppers interact. One is Shipt Shoppers United, which one shopper from Iowa, who asked to remain anonymous, describes as being “a little more real.” The group strictly prohibits people from Shipt’s corporate team, but it’s much smaller in size. This group has just a little over 6,000 members.

The other group is the Shipt Shopper Lounge, which is administered by members from Shipt HQ. This group has more than 100,000 members. It’s in this group where Solis says Shipt has created a “cult-like environment” where the company deletes any negative comments in Facebook groups for shoppers and only lets shoppers see “feel-good stories in an attempt to keep up shopper moral.”

Solis said his comments have been deleted from the Shipt Shopper Lounge Facebook group and his local Shipt group. This culture of fear, Solis says, leaves some shoppers feeling like they have to take every order, or else they’ll be punished in some way, like getting sent low-paying orders or getting deactivated. Or, if they speak out against the company in Facebook groups, some say they fear they’ll be deactivated.

“Shopper feedback has been incredibly important to improving the experience we create for our shopper community, members and retail partners,” Coop said. “We encourage Shipt Shoppers to share their opinions and feedback about their journey with Shipt, and we offer multiple feedback channels where shoppers are encouraged to speak freely to Shipt about their shopper experience.”

But the Iowa-based shopper, for example, referred to the vibe of the group as brainwashing.

“It’s almost like it tries to brainwash you into thinking the company can’t do anything wrong,” the shopper from Iowa says. “They won’t let you post negative things about it. If you do there’s a good chance you’ll be deactivated.”

This Iowa shopper says she saw someone question the pay model Shipt is testing, only for that comment to be deleted. Shipt, however, says it only deactivates people based on things like performance issues.

“Shipt does not make deactivation decisions based on shopper feedback that may be critical of Shipt, but is respectful and falls within our guidelines of appropriate actions,” Coop said in a statement to TechCrunch. “We do have written agreements with all shoppers that outline possible causes for deactivation including consistent performance issues resulting in a poor customer experience or unlawful behavior.”

While the culture and pay practices at Shipt are concerning to Solis, he says what really gets at him is the amount of control he says Shipt tries to exert over him.

“I wake up in the middle of the night scared that I forgot an order and will get deactivated,” he said, “That’s the type of fear they instill into you. I like being an independent contractor but I am not an independent contractor with Shipt in any sense of the word. The exercise of control and them telling me how to do my work and deliveries — it is control.”

Shipt, for example, requires shoppers to take certain training classes, such as Late Delivery refresher, which is sent to shoppers who have been late 10% of the time on their last 50 orders. If shoppers don’t get a perfect score, they risk being disabled from the platform. Here’s what the course, which Shipt has designed to take about 15 to 20 minutes, looks like.

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Smith, on the other hand, says she feels like she can truly be independent on Shipt. Smith pointed to how she can make her own schedule determine which orders she wants to take.

“I know people look into things quite a bit and come up with theories,” Smith says. “But at the end of the day, there’s no way to say Shipt is trying to control this, that and the other. I’ve never felt controlled by them at all.”

Shipt is the latest company in the gig economy to find itself at odds with its workers. Last year marked a turning point among gig workers who deliver for Instacart and DoorDash, as well as people who drive for Uber and Lyft. Between the passage of gig worker protections bill AB 5 and workers at Spin unionizing, gone are the days where workers for these big tech companies can be silenced.

“We do have some headwinds in organizing,” Solis says. “The company is active in our groups. We have a lot of resistance from that standpoint so we need different strategies to let people know they can be anonymous and speak out and be heard.”

The year of the gig worker uprising

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Target’s same-day pickup and delivery services growing at double the rate of 2018

Target’s investment in same-day pickup and delivery options is paying off. The company, which today offers same-day in-store pickup, drive-up, and same-day delivery through its acquisition of Shipt, said this week that these services combined have more than doubled their sales in the last year. In addition, they accounted for more than a third of Target’s digital sales, up from about 20% last year.

“These options offer speed, convenience and reliability and as a result, they are quickly becoming the preferred fulfillment choices for our guests,” said Target CEO Brian Cornell, speaking to investors about Target’s Q2 earnings. “And most importantly, because these options leverage our store infrastructure, technology, and teams, same-day fulfillment delivers outstanding financial performance as well,” he added. 

What’s notable about the same-day sales is that they’re bringing in guests to Target, who had never before placed digital orders with the retailer.

Roughly 1 in 5 customers placing a same-day order in the second quarter were placing an order with Target for the first time.

And once Target customers become familiar with the process, they seem to return in short order. During Q2, more than three-quarters of the same-day orders were placed by guests who had used same-day fulfillment in the past three months.

Target’s ability to grow its same-day sales in this fashion was the result of investment in infrastructure, technology, and even its brick-and-mortar stores themselves.

Glenview Order Pickup Entrance Exterior

On the technology front, Target says its pickup and delivery services benefitted from increased order picking efficiency. Instead of using a first-in, first-out (FIFO) system, new algorithms are being used to prioritize the sequence of order picking that helps direct store employees on which work to do first as well as the best box size for packing orders.

The technology also helps to optimize the path for order picking to minimize the number of steps between the sales floor and back room.

Target claims that since the beginning of last year, these improvements have led to an over 30% increase in order picking for drive-up and pickup services. Its ship-from-store capability also improved over 30% during that time.

Meanwhile, the retailer’s $7+ billion remodeling project announced in 2017 was focused more than just updating the stores’ look-and-feel and merchandising displays. The new format stores also include changes designed to cater to online shoppers who come inside the store for their order pickups, by adding more space for things like Order Pickup.

Outside, space is added for Drive Up customers who shop online then later drive to the store for curbside service.

This summer, Target passed its 500th store remodel, and says it’s on-track to remodel 1,000 stores by the end of 2020. It also plans to open up more small-format stores — about a third of the size of a traditional Target, or on average, 40,000 sq ft — in big cities, suburbs, and college campuses.

Target says it plans on opening 30 more small-format stores per year, as it has done last year and the year prior. It said on Friday it had opened its 100th small-format store.

Richmond Drive Up

All the changes to make Target’s stores more of home for order fulfillment has helped the retailer reduce costs, as well, the company pointed out this week on its Q2 earnings.

Target says, as it’s shifted away from upstream distribution centers for order fulfillment to its stores, costs went down by more than 40%. And costs related to same-day services went down by 90%. Target today has 1,855 U.S. stores, which is how it’s able to make this store-centric strategy work.

Many traditional big-box retailers are struggling under the weight of competition from Amazon — Macy’s, Kohl’s and J.C. Penney’s all released disappointing earnings this week, for example.

Target’s earnings, however, beat every estimate this week, sending shares to a record high.

The company reported $18.42 billion in revenue, above the $18.34 billion expected. Profits were up 17% to $938 million ($1.82 a share) compared with $799 million ($1.49 a share), a year ago.

Second-quarter comparable sales grew 3.4 percent, with same-day fulfillment accounts for nearly 1.5 percentage points of that. Over the past two years, comparable sales have grown 10%, Target said.