Fast. Faster. FASTEST

It's hard to believe that it was a mere 12 years ago that at THE ICONIC we launched a groundbreaking, industry-shaking, noise-making 3-hour delivery service and broke the internet.

Since that time, we've seen a (r)evolution in expectations on delivery speed and capability that could only be matched by a rare few who had tight control on their logistics - and they were lauded for it. Think about the incredible success that John Winning , Peter Harris and Mick Bunt at Winning Group had with Appliances Online and turning consumer expectations on their head.

When on earth could you ever expect delivery of a side-by-side fridge within 24 hours of purchasing it online, with your old unit being taken away? Fast was becoming mainstream, an expectation a way of life.

Then things got faster and more frequent. Launching the networked twilight delivery service at Team Global Express (then Toll) back in 2014 took it to another level. Now orders coming interstate could be next day delivered, without having to be flown. A big shift from expensive air freight to lower cost road transport.

Then we had the dilemma - how could we get even faster and more on demand? Services like Sherpa led by Duncan Brett opened the floodgates for many, with the ability for anyone, anywhere, to be able to ship point to point, to the same city. Who could forget the infamous campaign by Jimmy Brings , then the fastest home delivery service for alcohol, where their posters closely resembled those of political candidates - during an election period!

But there were still improvements to be made. Being fast was good, but someone, somewhere was always paying the cost - and it wasn't always the consumer.

Along comes a little-known retailer, Dan Murphy's , who underwent a significant digital overhaul (looking at you, Lance Eerhard ) and focused on taking the next step in speed, and that was acquiring Jimmy's bringing to connect to Dan's stores and execute a near-mile delivery experience. Speed, efficiency, and lowering of overall distance travelled for orders to customers homes was nearing it's zenith. The world had changed.

What was uncovered was that if you had a physical location that could serve the dual purpose of serving walk-in customers AND fulfilling local deliveries fast, you were onto a winner. Convenience was now reaching its peak. Soon following we had Deliveroo (sad face), Uber , DoorDash , Menulog (thanks Gabby Leibovich !!) and eventually MILKRUN , along with others that have tried to penetrate the market.

This then left our online pure-plays in a conundrum. How could they compete, when they only had a website, marketplace integrations, a warehouse or 3PL - and low margins preventing them from having their own, economical fleet? Or warehouses in every city?

And that is where the brilliant mind of Shuch Das comes in.

Seeing the challenge that online retailers were having in the home delivery space - cost, ability to only service their local market, near-mile not an option and the additional environmental strain caused by this activity - velOzity was born.

velOzity is a simple concept - by using crowd sourced owner/partners, and accessing under-utilised storage capacity in the community, retailers are now able to have their inventory stored close to their end customer and delivered, with same day speed - on average, within 22 minutes! - for around the same cost as shipping across state borders.

Retailers can now access a same-day delivery service in Sydney, Brisbane and Melbourne (with other states to follow) improving their customer experience for a much larger cohort. Now an online retailer CAN compete with a large store network without having to be a retail and real estate monster.

Now, we may just have FASTEST.

What's next Tim Warren , GEN AI to 3D printer in home? Or perhaps Jetson's style food tablets? What else could make us faster?

I love tech. I love disruption.

Keep breaking stuff.

Luke