Target has launched same-day delivery. Amazon is readying for the same. Thanks to Grubhub and Uber Eats, consumers can now order a wider variety of meals than ever. Sometimes, it seems like there’s little room left for innovation. Then a brand comes along and offers delivery to places that don’t even have addresses.
7‑Eleven has updated the 7NOW app. With this update, the convenience retailer has set up thousands of locations, called 7NOW Pins, where customers can receive deliveries. This technology enables customers to order the delivery service to parks, beaches, sports fields, entertainment venues, and other public locations that may not have traditional addresses.
“Our mission is to redefine convenience by becoming a customer-obsessed, digitally enabled company,” says Gurmeet Singh, Chief Digital, Information, and Marketing Officer for 7-Eleven. “7NOW Pins makes convenience more convenient, by keeping customers in the moment, whether at a game, in the park or enjoying the sun on the beach. Our customers asked for it and we are delivering!”
When ordering items through 7NOW Pins, customers can choose from a wide variety of beverages, fresh and hot foods, beer and wine (in participating markets), snacks, cosmetics, home goods, and other products available for purchase. In addition, customers can now go into their last orders and click “reorder” to add them to their cart.
“Sometimes things can get inconvenient away from home,” says Raghu Mahadevan, Vice President of Delivery. “It could be running out of ice and charcoal at a picnic or a hungry little league team demanding pizza and Slurpee drinks after a big game. We continuously challenge ourselves to find even more ways to offer convenience and value to our customers—when and where people need it most. 7NOW makes ordering and getting delivery in about 30 minutes a reality for customers whether they’re at a park, a ballfield, arena, venue, and of course, at home.”
To order delivery to a 7NOW Pin, shoppers open the app, which will auto-locate their current location or show the nearest 7NOW Pin on the app’s interactive map. Each 7NOW Pin corresponds to a public place or space where they can receive the delivery. A courier will pick up the order from the nearest participating store and deliver it to the selected 7NOW Pin location or specified address in 30 minutes or less on most occasions.
No minimum order is required for the 7NOW app and the service is available 24/7, with the first three deliveries free (within 30 days of the first order). Real-time tracking lets customers know when to expect their 7NOW app orders.
7‑Eleven introduced delivery in late 2017 when it began testing the app-based service at select stores in Dallas. Today, 7NOW is available in 27 major metropolitan areas, with more than 200 cities and serving more than 23 million households.