Fanatics teams up with Roadie for local next-day delivery
Fanatics is expanding its online delivery capabilities.
The licensed sports merchandise retailer and digital sports platform is partnering with delivery platform Roadie, which uses an “on the way” delivery model that places deliveries in passenger vehicles already heading in that direction, to enable local next-day delivery in select U.S. cities.
Local next-day delivery with Roadie is currently available on select products to Fanatics customers in Atlanta, Boston, Chicago, Dallas, Las Vegas, St. Louis, and Jacksonville, with more cities being added in the future. To order an item for local next-day delivery, customers shop online at Fanatics.com and add any item labeled “Next Business Day Shipping” to their cart. Roadie is the sole local next-day delivery solution across all of Fanatics’ U.S. fulfillment centers.
This new partnership will utilize Fanatics’ warehouse and distribution center footprint to fulfill customers’ orders with local next-day delivery provided by Roadie. Fanatics’ licensed sports merchandise assortment features teams and players from leagues and sports and entertainment properties including the NFL, NBA, WNBA, MLB, NHL, MLS, WWE, and NCAA.
Roadie, a UPS Company, is a crowdsourced delivery platform with more than 200,000 drivers nationwide that reaches more than 20,000 ZIP codes. Other retailers including Chico’s, Best Buy, and Walmart also offer same-day delivery via Roadie, and The Home Depot is both a partner and investor.
Fanatics is building out its next-day delivery capacity. In May 2022, the company entered into a partnership with Quiet Platforms, which American Eagle Outfitters acquired at the end of last year.
Under the agreement, Fanatics will leverage the Quiet Platforms network to enable its same-day and next-day delivery strategy. The “click to door” network is designed to allow brands and retailers to better position their inventory to reach customers faster and more cost-efficiently than traditional supply chain models by providing access to shared supply chain assets and relationships across every link of the chain.
[Read more: Fanatics speeds up delivery with American Eagle subsidiary Quiet Platforms]
“Fanatics is incredibly excited to partner with Roadie and bring our customers the merchandise they crave faster than ever before,” said Lonnie Phillips, chief customer officer, Fanatics Commerce. “We place a continued emphasis on optimizing the fan experience, and this latest partnership with Roadie directly contributes to achieving that ultimate goal.”
“It's all about giving Fanatics' customers choices. The combined cutting-edge tech and distribution capabilities of Roadie and Fanatics will now create a local next-day delivery option for fans that are craving their gear on a moment’s notice,” said Marc Gorlin, Roadie founder and CEO.
“Ultimately, this partnership with Fanatics is ushering in a new era in the delivery and logistics industry. They call it a ‘supply chain’ because there are so many links in an item’s journey from manufacturing to the customer. We’re eliminating two to three links in that chain by enabling Fanatics to deliver directly from distribution centers to their end customers,” said Gorlin.