Shutl

Shutl is a subsidiary of eBay Inc. which provides delivery services. The company was founded in London in 2008 by Tom Allason, as a company offering a rapid fulfillment service by connecting online retailers with local same-day couriers. The company was bought by eBay in 2013.[1][2]

History

Shutl received £500,000 of venture capital investment in October 2009[3] from investors including Simon Murdoch, Paul Birch, Mark Zaleski, and Big Bang Ventures of Belgium.[1][3] Murdoch, who was previously Vice President of Amazon in Europe, joined the company's board as non-executive chairman.[4] Shutl's official launch took place on 9 December 2009 at LeWeb, a European Internet conference.[4][5]

The company acted as an aggregator for same-day delivery services over short distances, connecting retailers with couriers who made deliveries within a ten-mile radius of the retailer's premises.[4]

In the first months of operations, Shutl was available in London only. Its first delivery transaction took place in March 2010.[6] The company's initial growth rate was about 50 percent month-on-month.[6] Company executives planned for growth within the UK and then internationally.[7] One of the first major retailers to adopt the service in London was Argos, the UK's largest multichannel retailer.[8]

The United States Patent and Trademark Office granted Shutl a trademark in August 2011.[9] By Christmas that year, Shutl extended its coverage to serve 50% of the UK's online shoppers.[10] By mid-2012, Shutl operated in more than 50 UK cities and towns, serving 70% of UK shoppers.[11]

In 2012, Shutl executives began planning for a North American launch.[11][12] The company received a $2 million investment from the UPS Strategic Enterprise Fund[11][6] and the French post office, La Poste, made a similar investment through its wholly owned subsidiary, Geopost.[6] The launch took place in February 2013.[12][13]

In 2012, Shutl offered Jamaican sprinter and Olympic champion Usain Bolt a one-percent stake in the company in exchange for his endorsement.[14] The company won the 2012 DHL Online Fulfillment Initiative of the Year award,[15] and Startups.co.uk ranked Shutl at number 1 in their top 100 startups of the year.[16] In November 2012, the company won the National Business Awards Start-up Business of the Year award.[17]

In January 2013, Shutl won Best Transport, Travel or Environmental Startup at The Europas.[18]

In June 2019, eBay UK announced they would be changing their delivery service provider from Shutl to Packlink.[19]

Purchase by eBay

On 23 October 2013, it was announced by eBay that it had bought the firm and was aiming for one-hour delivery in the UK.[20]

As of 2018, Shutl Limited continued to be registered in London, as a wholly owned subsidiary of eBay International AG.[21]

eBay turned off integration with Shutl in July 2019.[22]