Online retail delivery business Shutl is launching its service in Manchester, Leeds, Glasgow and Edinburgh today, allowing Shutl to serve around 25 per cent of UK online shoppers.

Shutl was founded by 30-year-old Tom Allason – one of Real Business’s 30:30 Vision winners, and the founder of eCourier.co.uk.

Shutl’s service works by aggregating capacity for local same-day couriers into a web service. This integrates with retailers’ ecommerce platforms, allowing them to offer delivery at a price comparable to the cost of standard one-to-two day delivery and far faster than traditional “hub and spoke” courier services.

Shoppers can choose to receive online/in-store purchases within as little as 90 minutes or within a one-hour delivery slot of their choice, 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

“Assuming everything goes to plan, we expect to launch across a further five cities in the coming weeks,” says Tom Allason. “Our goal is to have sufficient coverage by November to give high-street retailers a significant competitive edge over Amazona nd the other pure-play e-tailers this Christmas.”

Initially the service will be offered to the new geographies through leading fashion brands Karen Millen, Oasis, Coast and Warehouse. Other major high street names are expected to follow suit shortly.

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