Same-day delivery at checkout:
How to offer it online

Same-day delivery at checkout lets an online buyer pick a same-day delivery window and see the price before they order, the same service your branches already provide when a customer calls in. Distributors add it by connecting their storefront to a delivery network that sends a vehicle sized to the order, from a car to a flatbed, so the fleet they run today doesn't change.

Your branches already do this every day. A contractor calls, the counter rushes the order out, and the job keeps moving. Online, that same buyer sees ground shipping or in-store pickup and little else. The gap isn't your service. It's that your website can't sell it.

Why do urgent orders still come in by phone?

Buyers shop online for much of what they order. In BigCommerce's 2025 Industrial Buyer Report, 62% of buyers of electrical, HVAC and industrial supply products said they purchase online. The urgent order is where that habit breaks.

When something heavy is needed on the jobsite today, a buyer can't tell from a website whether it will arrive in time. So they do what they have always done. They call the branch, drive to the counter, or try a competitor. A Graybar executive made the same point in a 2020 Electrical Contractor feature, noting that online buyers have fewer options for last-minute purchases and that a phone call is often the easiest choice for a rush request.

Each of those calls is an order your online store could have taken.

Why same-day delivery for distributors is now table stakes

Large retailers keep raising the bar. Retail Brew reported that more than 55% of one national home improvement chain's in-stock items were delivered same- or next-day in 2025, triple the 2022 rate. Buyers notice, and the expectation follows them to every supplier they order from.

That's why same-day delivery is now table stakes for distributors. The question has moved from whether to offer it to where buyers can book it.

What does same-day delivery at checkout look like for eCommerce buyers?

The buyer sees a same-day option next to the shipping choices they already know. Curri calculates the price live from the items, the store and the address, so the buyer knows the cost and the delivery window before paying.

• Sees a live price and delivery window before paying
• Picks same-day right next to the shipping choices they already use
• Follows the driver with live tracking and an ETA
• Gets photo proof of delivery at the drop-off

You decide how that price shows. It can appear as a line item, sit inside the product price, or drop to free over a threshold.

Tracking after the order

Once the order is placed, the buyer follows the delivery live with an ETA. When it arrives, photo proof of delivery flows back into your order system and customer notifications. A missing-order call becomes one screen instead of a hunt through a carrier portal.

For more on why visibility matters, read about GPS tracking and proof of delivery and last-mile delivery tracking.

Can distributors offer same-day delivery without adding trucks?

Yes. Curri matches each order to a vehicle by weight and dimensions and dispatches a driver to the branch or store that holds the inventory. That can be a car for a small box, a cargo van or Sprinter van for a TV or an appliance, or a flatbed for pallets and long loads.

It runs on the same on-demand network behind Curri Hotshots, a network of 16K+ carriers and 56 vehicle and accessory options. For on-demand retail orders, the median time from booking to a driver at pickup is 34 minutes. Your own drivers keep the routes they run today, and Curri takes the same-day orders that would otherwise stretch them.

Big and bulky same-day delivery

Oversized orders get the same treatment. Parcel networks often reclass or refuse an oversized item, while Curri ships it from the store in a vehicle built for it. Big and bulky delivery is the category parcel carriers turn away.

Branches ship from the store that holds the inventory, the pattern retailers call buy online, deliver from store. For how the vehicle match works, see how Curri's platform matches shipments with the right vehicle type, and for the delivery side, Curri's last-mile delivery service.

Curious how this would run on your catalog? Get a demo and walk through your markets and categories with the Curri team.

How do you offer same-day delivery online and start small?

Start with one market. Pick a region, a handful of motivated branches and the product categories where urgent orders come in by phone today, then learn from the first weeks before you expand.

Connection options depend on your platform. The Curri API is live today, with a sandbox for testing before you go live. Curri Embed, a checkout component Curri renders under your brand, is in development with design partners now and rolls out in Q4.

Branches only need a simple way to stage orders for pickup. Start with a few motivated locations, then roll in the rest as the process settles.

You don't need perfect product data to begin. Weights and dimensions help match the right vehicle, and you can start with a limited set of products.