You’ll soon have the option to request a package be delivered inside your home, or fresh groceries be stocked in your fridge, when you’re not around. You’ll just need an August Smart Lock.
San Francisco-based August Home has partnered with same-day delivery service Deliv to safely open shoppers’ front doors to retailers, merging August Home’s access platform with Deliv’s client base, which includes such companies as Macy’s, meal-kit service Plated, Kohl’s, Best Buy and Walgreens.
These are just a few of the retailers, along with other logistics services outside of Deliv, that could reveal partnerships with August Home in the next few months, August Home CEO Jason Johnson told CNBC.
In 2017, Walmart teamed up with the smart-lock maker to pilot this shipment method around Silicon Valley, which was largely successful, Johnson said. The big-box retailer is expected to make an announcement later this year regarding its progress and the next steps to tackle in-home (and in-fridge) delivery.
“We’re opening up this platform to all retailers,” Johnson said. “And every company has a different spin — one [retailer] wants to put packages inside your door, and another wants to get rid of boxes altogether.”
Now, shoppers across the U.S. ordering online from those companies that work with Deliv will have the option through their smart locks for in-home delivery. Once a delivery is approved, one of Deliv’s employees will be given a one-time access code to that smart lock to step inside the customer’s home and drop off packages.
Soon, August Home’s in-home delivery platform August Access will be available on other locks, such as Yale residential and commercial locks.
Johnson said his goals are to grow trust with consumers, to make them feel more comfortable with in-home delivery, and to bring retailers big and small across the country onto the platform.
The big theme in retail this year is home delivery, Johnson told CNBC, “and the companies that you trust should have access … in a safe and secure way. We’ve been working on this for a few years now.”
Internet giant Amazon, which started an in-home delivery service in November, has been in talks to ship packages to a car’s trunk.
As retailers search for solutions to unattended package deliveries that could attract “porch pirates,” many consumers are still wary of giving companies full access to their homes, despite the benefits an in-home drop off might offer.
Smart doorbell maker Ring has created a platform for homeowners to monitor their front porches, and Mail Haven makes smart mailboxes to protect packages.
As retailers launch with August Home and Deliv, consumers are going to have a range of delivery options and services “to make it as broadly appealing as possible,” Johnson said. “We want every retailer to have the opportunity to participate in this.”
Source: Tech CNBC
Retailers (not just Amazon and Walmart) can unlock your front door now — if you let them