Home Furnishings, Home Improvement Supplies, Food and Perishables and Electronics Post Significant Gains

ATLANTA (June 30, 2020) – Same-day delivery has surged within multiple retail sectors since the onset of the COVID-19 crisis while others showed declines, according to data released today by Roadie, a crowdsourced delivery service covering 89 percent of the U.S.—the largest local same-day delivery footprint in the nation.

Comparing pre-COVID same-day activity (January and February 2020) with data from the early days of the pandemic (March and April 2020), Roadie reports significant increases in four key categories: home furnishings, home improvement supplies, electronics and food and perishables sectors.

“What was largely a service of convenience back in February became an essential public service mid-March,” said Marc Gorlin, Roadie’s founder and CEO. “Even as communities move toward reopening, foot traffic isn’t just going to snap back to pre-pandemic levels. It’s no surprise that delivery has become a lifeline for businesses of all sizes in the coronavirus era.”

“Consumer wants and needs have changed dramatically, too. Apparently, we eat a lot of cake when we’re bored at home,” said Gorlin.

Roadie reports the following same-day delivery activity, accompanied by anecdotal information derived through customer communications:

• Home Furnishings (up 4840 percent): Because Americans have remained at home for an extended period, they’re spending significantly more money to make their homes more comfortable.
• Home Improvement Supplies (up 1176 percent): More time and resources have been devoted to new projects to beautify homes, such as gardening and remodeling. The Home Depot successfully covered the increased demand during the pandemic, which deepened their integration with Roadie’s solutions.
• Electronics (up 188 percent): Consumers are looking for new options to keep themselves entertained at home, so purchases of TVs, sound systems, computers and other electronic technologies are up.
• Food and Perishables (up 180 percent): Reflecting heightened demand for delivery from grocery stores, bakeries and restaurants.

Accompanying those same-day delivery gains were declines in multiple sectors, according to Roadie. Specifically:

• Sports Equipment (down 100 percent): Attributable to the cancellation or postponement of group sports.
• Office Supplies (down 63 percent): Since working from home became common practice, large-scale office supply purchasing by businesses slowed significantly.
• HVAC (down 38 percent): Homeowners became less willing to have contractors inside their homes, opting to forego some repairs. In addition, some contractors furloughed their employees while stay-at-home orders were enforced, because they didn’t want to put them at risk as well.
• Clothing (20 percent decline): Retailers closed brick-and-mortar stores and moved to online-only operations — and this is only if they already had an omnichannel operation in place.
• Medications (15 percent decline): Patients delayed non-essential surgeries and doctor visits. In addition, many pharmacy orders are typically delivered to long-term care facilities, which have become more restrictive to protect residents.

About Roadie
Roadie is the nation’s first crowdsourced delivery service that’s “on the way.” Founded in 2014, Roadie works with consumers, small businesses and corporations across virtually every industry to provide a faster, cheaper, more scalable solution for scheduled, same-day and urgent delivery. With over 150,000 verified drivers, Roadie covers 89% of U.S. households — the largest local same-day delivery footprint in the nation.

Roadie is backed by Warren Stephens of Stephens Inc.; The Home Depot; the UPS Strategic Enterprise Fund; Eric Schmidt’s TomorrowVentures; David Bonderman, founder of TPG Capital; Guggenheim Partners’ Executive Chairman Alan Schwartz; Square Co-founder Jim McKelvey; among others. For more information, visit www.roadie.com.