In recent years, companies such as Google and Amazon have stepped up their same-day delivery efforts — believing that this can be a key competitive advantage for firms with an adequate distribution structure to handle same-day deliveries.

Ace Hardware is one of the most recent entrants into same-day delivery. As Mike O’Brien reports for Multichannel Merchant:

“Ace Hardware has begun a pilot program of same-day delivery via its own associates at 33 stores in select neighborhoods in Florida, Illinois, Colorado, Maryland, Texas, and Arizona. It is an extension of Ace’s in-store pickup program, which is available at more than 1,600 of Ace’s 4,600 U.S. stores. Ace has more than 54,000 SKUs available on acehardware.com, most of which are eligible for same-day delivery if the item is in stock.”

“The program, called Express Delivery, offers same-day delivery of eligible products for a $5 fee to customers within five miles of the participating Ace store when ordered by 1 p.m. local time. Ace plans to test a variety of program components in preparation for a national roll-out. Rival Home Depot began offering same-day delivery in December 2013, while Lowe’s has not as of yet.”

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