My-Del.ca is in the local newspaper this week!
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Georgetown woman makes online shopping convenient again
Online shopping has never been easier, but frequent online shoppers will know all too well the challenges associated with convenience, from porch pirates to damaged goods.
Delarae Ritchie, owner of MyDel, a delivery concierge service, offers solutions.
“My spouse broke his back,” Ritchie said. Her husband had major spinal fusion surgery that left him confined primarily to a bed. “He’s still able to walk, but he’s in a lot of pain pretty much all of the time.
“I felt like I couldn’t go out, so I started ordering everything online,” she said.
Though it offered convenience at the touch of a button, the system wasn’t perfect.
“I saw firsthand everything that could go wrong,” Ritchie said. “I had packages stolen, lost, delivered to the wrong place. I’d be home, and they’d leave a sticker on the door saying they’d just missed me.”
Ritchie said she knew there had to be a better way.
“I can’t reinvent the courier system, but I can make it a lot easier for people to use,” Ritchie said.
Ritchie’s pickup service is simple, when ordering online, shoppers can ship items to her storefront, where they’ll be kept safe in a temperature-controlled environment, until they can be picked up.
Ideally, shoppers will contact Ritchie to let them know a package is on the way, but even for late-night impulse buys, she said, she can still accept.
Ritchie also offers shipping services.
“If you order something on Amazon and leave the box, I’ll reuse that box for the next person to send something out,” Ritchie said.
“All you have to do is drop the package off and tell me where you want it to go,” Ritchie said.
Through the service, Ritchie can offer better shipping rates than are available to the public.
“I’ve got a negotiated rate,” Ritchie said, and customers don’t even need to visit the store to take advantage of the rates.
“If someone wanted to mail something from London, Ontario, I can email them a waybill, and they can drop it off at their local distribution centre and still take advantage of our discounts,” Ritchie said.
MyDel also offers personal shopping, small business solutions and accessibility services.
The store is at 360 Guelph St., Unit 51, and online at my-del.ca.
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Article published online July 10, 2019, and print newspaper August 1, 2019.
https://www.theifp.ca/news-story/9494684-georgetown-woman-makes-online-shopping-convenient-again/
