EXCLUSIVE Shutl to take 90-minute deliveries nationwide

Award-winning delivery service Shutl is set to expand nationwide this year, bringing its 90-minute delivery times within reach of shoppers and retailers across the UK by the end of the year.

To that end it has worked with digital agency Pod1 to develop an app that will allow more retailers selling online to offer the Shutl service to its consumers.

A spokesman for the company said today: “Shutl will be steadily increasing its coverage to serve retailers across Greater London (within M25) in quarters one and two, 2011. We will then pursue a staggered national roll-out, serving additional UK conurbations by quarter three.”

Shutl, developed by eCourier.co.uk founder Tom Allason, allows online shoppers to have purchases delivered within 90 minutes, using Shutl Now, or within a one-hour delivery window of their choice, with Shutl Later.

It has been in trial with Argos since August and has won awards including eConsultancy’s Innovation in Ecommerce title.

The company says it plans to serve all major UK conurbations by Christmas, as long as there is demand from retailers, consumers and availability of courier services.

Its move, working with Pod1, to develop an app to integrate its services into open source ecommerce platform Magento is part of that strategy. Shutl said: "We want to make it clear that in order for a retailer to benefit from Shutl you don’t need to have billions in turn-over, hundreds of locations and an army of developers. We want the Shutl service to be open and accessible to retailers of all shapes and sizes."

Mark Hopwood, of Pod1, said: “They approached us to partner with them in the development of a Magento app so that their service, previously beyond the reach of all but the largest retailers, could be made available to virtually anyone selling online.

“With Magento currently being used by 60,000 online retailers this will really open up Shutl’s offering.”

The system has been designed to cater for small, medium and larger businesses. Hopwood said: “For most companies the hard part is not the integration but figuring out business processes around returns and how to make sure shops know to expact a Shutl collection.”