With a changing economy, there is an overwhelming entry of “on-demand” e-commerce companies who provide services to meet the new modern consumer demand. What is the on-demand economy…well it is defined as the economic activity created by digital marketplaces that fulfill consumer demand via immediate access to and convenient provisioning of goods and services. While the category range is becoming very broad, there are a few categories which have become a part of people’s daily lives. Food/Convenience Store/Grocery Store Delivery, Errands/Courier/General Labor Service and Transportation/Travel companies have made a huge stake in the on-demand.
I think it’s fair to say that at some point, we’ve all needed something that we didn’t want to, or were unable to go get for ourselves. I still use the expression that I picked up somewhere in my teen years – “You fly -I buy” meaning it’s worth it for me to pay, to have “you” run the errand. Many of the local restaurants offer delivery service, but if you’re craving something from someplace specific, and they don’t offer delivery, you’re out of luck.
Years ago, restaurants figured out that delving food opened a new market for them. Some have capitalized on it over the years. There is a strong market for food delivery – though primarily pizza. For pizza giant Domino’s, roughly 65% of their sales are through delivery.
Many people don’t realize that you can actually get food from non-delivery restaurants, and even those that offer delivery, through independent companies. All different types of delivery services are available from companies like DoorDash, GrubHub, Instacart, Gopher Request, 919Dine and Postmates. These companies charge a fee to bring you your food or other items, and the rates and fees vary depending on which service you choose.
You may find there are some restric-tions depending on which company you choose. Within a majority of these services, the on-demand company has established a relationship with a particular restaurant or store. A quick check on GrubHub for Holly Springs
will bring up only two restaurants, both of them delivering pizza. DoorDash does a little better, offering consider-ably more restaurants to order from.
The way most of these apps work is either via the internet or mobile app. The customer submits their order to the app. The order is then sent to the restaurant to verify it can be fulfilled. The restaurant manually confirms back to the company if it can fulfill the order, and then the company locates a driver. Once the driver is located, the order is processed and on its way. The average delivery time is around 45 minutes to 1 hour.
Personally, I have a driving 17 year-old at home. With that being said, as of today, I don’t need a service to bring us food. My wife and I feel that a driving teenager is our reward for the past 17 years of errands that we’ve run for him. If we find ourselves in need of a specific ingredient for a recipe that we’re in the middle of preparing, or we need some food picked up, our son is always a good sport about it. There are of course limitations. If we’re entertaining and need a 12-pack from the store, we’re out of luck.
For those without a licensed willing teen at home, these services aren’t just for people that don’t feel like running out themselves. There are any number of reasons that someone could need one of these services. If you’re unable to drive or can’t leave the house, these services are truly a gift.
As our culture continues to evolve, and we enter the realm of expecting immediate services, our expectations increase, and the amount of time we are willing to wait for practically anything decreases. Am I the only one that gets frustrated if an item can’t be delivered in two days through Amazon? I remember it wasn’t so long ago that we were OK with “allow 4-6 weeks for delivery.” The times they are a-changing.
Requests for local immediate help have reached far beyond food. Social media platforms like Facebook have made it commonplace for someone to sign in and ask for help for everything from getting their grass mowed, to looking for a handyman, to even running an errand (like a trip to the dump).
We didn’t have to go far to find a new company that is looking to pair buyers with people that will run errands, get food, and pick up that 12-pack if you need them to. The company, aptly named “Gopher,” reaches well beyond the other apps that are often food-specific.
opher feels that they have built a better mousetrap for providing services. Unlike the apps like GrubHub and DoorDash, they don’t have a list of existing restaurants that they work with. They have Gophers. There is no set fee to have your food delivered, nor is there a set list of restaurants. You can pick where you’d like your food from, and you decide what you want to spend to have someone run your errand by sending a request through the Gopher app. To use the app, you make a request, and the price offered comes from you – the requester. It is then immediately sent to a network of “Gophers,” and once accepted, the Gopher is on the way to compete the errand. Turn-around time before the errand request is accepted is 2-5 minutes.
The other unique thing about Gopher is that they don’t limit their services to food delivery. The app provides a wide array of errands and even chores that can be requested. Once a request is made, it goes to over 1,000 Gophers in the area, and works on a first-accepted basis with the Gophers. The first Gopher that accepts the request at the offered price, secures the request.
Who are the Gophers? They are people that don’t mind running an errand for some extra money. Just like Uber, Lyft and all of the other services where you can sign up to be a provider, the Gopher app allows you to sign up as a Gopher as well as a customer. Remember when I said that we didn’t have to go far? It’s because Gopher is starting here in Raleigh, and the founders are Holly Springs residents.
Although it’s easy to conjure visions from the film Wall-E where people become so reliant on having their services brought to them as they lay in an oversized chair, there is a lot of value that these services can offer. For the person healing from a broken hip, or someone who can’t drive, these services are extremely important. Maybe you’re at the community pool and running out to the store would cause you to give up your premium spot? (I’m just saying – we all have different reasons.)
Whatever your reason, know that these services are available to you. Remember – you buy – they’ll fly.
