Live ETA and delivery time on the minute – how does Budbee do it?

People may still be a bit skeptical when they hear the words home delivery. Previous experiences of claimed deliveries that did not happen or of having to stay home from work to receive something that is said to be delivered sometime between 08:00-17:00 are rarely positive. Therefore, it is very interesting to understand what lies behind Budbee’s rapid success, from an idea to market leader in just a few years with a customer rating of 4.9 out of 5.0! Read more about how you can increase your sales and loyalty with awesome home deliveries!

Background

The idea for Budbee’s home delivery for e-commerce parcels became true in the autumn of 2016 and the first parcel was delivered in October the same year. The idea was then and still is today, that Budbee wanted to deliver e-commerce parcels in the absolute most convenient way for consumers.

The idea is that all deliveries will take place at a time that suits most people’s schedules. After working hours, in the evening – but without claiming the whole evening. Thanks to the technology that Budbee has developed, consumers can, via the tracking they have access to, adjust how the parcel will be delivered and on a map in real-time see where the driver is and when he/she is expected to arrive with the parcel. 

The service was very much appreciated and quickly became popular. When the merchants saw the consumer response and the increase in average order value and loyalty, others were very quick to implement and start offering Budbee to their customers. Early in Budbee’s history, larger Swedish merchants such as Apotea, Sportamore, Lekmer, and Lindex began offering Budbee’s home delivery in their webshops.

Budbee today

The idea of offering extremely convenient home deliveries is the same as it was back in 2016, but since then Budbee has developed on many levels. Some examples: 

Geographically,  Budbee has expanded rapidly. Today they deliver to over 200 locations in Sweden which allows them to deliver the majority of all e-commerce parcels. In addition to Sweden, Budbee’s home delivery service has been launched in Denmark, Finland, and the Netherlands. Recently multiple cities in Finland and Denmark have been added, e.g. Aarhus and Odense for the Danish market. Today Budbee reaches almost 30 million consumers with their service.
The tracking via a link in an SMS / email has been supplemented with an app (iOS / Android) where consumers, among other things. can see their history, book return pickups, set up their delivery profile, and also search for items they want to buy that can also be delivered with Budbee.
Budbee has a number of own terminals with automatic sorting machines to ensure efficiency, delivery time, and quality. This summer, they launched a new terminal northwest of Stockholm. The terminal is self-sufficient in electricity via solar panels and it’s a huge step towards Budbee´s goal of becoming fossil-free already by 2022!
Budbee has a goal of becoming fossil-free. Already today Budbee delivers about 5-10% of parcels with bicycles and electric vehicles. In Sweden today, about 75% of all Budbee-deliveries are done 100% fossil-free! Until Budbee becomes fossil-free, the company compensates for 110% of its CO2 footprint.

During the summer of 2020, Budbee launched a new service called Budbee Box. The consumer can select the preferred delivery Box in the checkout and Budbee will deliver the goods within 24h. With the help of a code, the consumer collects the parcel whenever it suits them. Budbee plans to have 400 smart lockers at the end of 2020.

All the above has resulted in even more international companies such as ASOS, Nespresso, Stadium, and H&M starting to offer Budbee’s home deliveries in their webshops. But despite this, and the fact that consumers’ average ratings of Budbee’s service after millions of rated deliveries have remained extremely high, according to Budbee, this is just the beginning. E-commerce deliveries can be made even better and Budbee has decided to continue on this path.

The consumer journey

For a consumer, the journey begins either in Budbee’s app via the product search service or via a merchant’s webshop. At the checkout, you are presented with Budbee as an alternative if you are within the zone that Budbee delivers.

Before receiving your order the consumer has the opportunity to complement with more information and customize how the parcel should be delivered. For example, a highly appreciated feature among families with children is to be able to choose that the driver should knock gently and whisper when he/she delivers to avoid waking up sleeping children or having the parcel delivered outside the door together with a picture of the parcel sent to the consumer.

On the day of delivery, at lunch, Budbee sends out a notification telling the consumer what hour the parcel will be delivered and around 16:00 and onwards the expected minute the parcel will be delivered. Meanwhile, the consumer can follow the driver´s progress live on a map with real-time updates. 

When the delivery is completed, all consumers are asked to rate their delivery experience, which is the foundation for quality improvements and future innovation.