Same-day delivery of retail orders is a popular trend, but can it work for a hardware store? Ace Hardware will find out as it runs a pilot program to provide same-day delivery for all orders placed before 1 P.M. Delivery will be available to customers who are within five miles of the store, and it will cost $5.

The idea to try same-day delivery is a practical one: the co-op figured out that about 61% of people in the U.S. live within five miles of an Ace store. 70% live within a fifteen-minute drive. In a world of Home Depot and Lowe’s superstores, Ace is trying to differentiate itself as a neighborhood store with friendly and useful service, and sending employees to customers’ homes to meet them, whether they’re homebound, carless, or the item they’re buying is simply too big to fit in their Impreza.

The 33 stores taking part in the program are in Arizona, Colorado, Florida, Illinois, Maryland, and Texas.

Ace Hardware is exploring a new way to be more helpful [Chicago Business Journal]

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