Online retailers know that fast and reliable delivery is one way to gain a larger share of an expanding e-commerce market that topped $341 billion last year.
Seeing the opportunity, some have improved what is known in the industry as the “last mile” of delivery by making free and next-day shipping commonplace for customers.
But it’s the next iteration that might cause fundamental disruption — led by a group of on-demand startups that believe they can make money by functioning as middlemen that handle the hassles of packing and mailing.
Kevin Gibbon knows these hassles well. A decade ago, while in college, the present-day CEO and co-founder of Shyp was an eBay PowerSeller who bought and resold items in large volumes. The hardest part of that business, he said, was packaging and shipping.
“That pain point stuck with me over many, many years,” he said. “Then, I really wanted to solve it.”
Using Shyp’s mobile app, clients snap a photo of the item they want to send. Within 20 minutes, a uniformed courier arrives, picks up the item, packs it at another location, and finds the cheapest carrier to ship it — all for a $5 fee, plus the shipping cost.
Shyp primarily makes its money from steep volume discounts negotiated with carriers including FedEx, UPS and the U.S. Postal Service. The startup charges customers the regular retail rate for shipping, pocketing the difference.
New Shippers Target Niches
For decades, shipping innovators focused on improving the experiences of those who receive packages. Now on-demand startups aim to disrupt the industry by improving the experiences of senders.

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