GeoPost is not charging any premium for the actual delivery. It says it has reconfigured its operations to allow this option to become an element of its standard service offering.

The service has been rolled out over recent months, and GeoPost says 1,500 companies have already signed up it, including mobile phone operator network Three and online gift company iwantoneofthose.com.

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Same-day home deliveries could become part of the home shopping mainstream if plans by new start-up company Shutl are realised.

Following more than a year of planning and development, the service went live in December, and among its more remarkable aspirations, the company says that it may eventually be able to reduce same-day delivery prices to the upper end of existing next-day delivery levels.

Shutl describes itself as a combined internet hub and technology platform for retailers. It is not a resource-owning business; rather it taps into the services of existing couriers, aiming to give them a new source of business.

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Since launching a same-day home shopping delivery service in association with retailer ASOS.com, CitySprint says it has been inundated with requests from other retailers seeking to imitate the service. It says its ability to offer such a service stems from what it describes as its unique infrastructure. It says that at a time when other couriers have been streamlining their networks, it has remained committed to a national network.

The company has call on 1,500 uniformed couriers, and maintains that its attention to detail helps differentiate it from rivals.

Online retailers in the UK are getting better at delivery, according to the fifth annual Online Retail Delivery in the UK report from consultancy Snow Valley – but the market still has some way to go before it offers the highest standards in all aspects of delivery.

The report is glowing in terms of the number of retailers providing online order tracking. This was 84 per cent in 2009, compared with 72 per cent last year and just 59 per cent in 2005, when the survey started. And no fewer than 94 per cent of retailers sent an email to confirm the order – though only a tiny handful (five) used texting to alert customers of delivery progress.

However, although the report finds major improvements in many aspects of delivery since 2005, some statistics show little improvement (and even some lapses) since last year. For instance, the number of retailers offering some kind of collect-from-store option last year was little changed at 15 per cent, and the number offering free delivery above a given order value was only marginally up at 39 per cent.

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A new home delivery standard known as the Gold Standard is being developed by IMRG, the online retailers' organisation, is on target for final ratification and publication by the spring.

The organisation's delivery forum is now thrashing out the final details of the standard. IMRG already publishes the nine-point IDIS Charter (standing for Internet Delivery Is Safe), but this new scheme will set a much higher standard of performance throughout the delivery process.

Online retailers will be able to apply for accreditation to the new standard, which will entitle them to display a new 'trust mark' logo on their web sites, indicating compliance. This will co-exist with the current charter branding, and will indicate that they are able to offer much higher level of delivery reliability, even for recipients who may not be at home to take delivery of their goods.

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A new contender in the unattended home delivery market has emerged in the form of Retriever Logistics, which launched a pilot service in time for Christmas, and hopes to go nationwide by the spring.

The company operates through high-street drop-off points – a well-tried model offered by various other services in the past. Its pilot operation involved three Brantano shoe shops in Hull, Sheffield and Stockton-on-Tees, though marketing director Joanne Hunter told F&E that other retailers were likely to be brought into the network for the wider launch. 'We hope to expand to 150 locations,' she says.

Where Retriever differs from most other unattended delivery contenders is in the fact that its software is fully integrated with retail web sites. Other suppliers have usually concluded that integration can be an obstacle to quick retailer acceptance, but as Joanne Hunter puts it: 'If you don't ask, you don't get.'

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