Dive Brief:

• Banana Republic announced Wednesday that it is launching its first on-demand delivery service with Postmates in New York City and Southern California, according to a company press release.

• Customers can buy their goods on the retailer's website and either select a buy online, pick up in-store option or choose delivery with Postmates, per the release. Shoppers within the delivery radius won't have to pay a delivery fee.

• The on-demand delivery service is meant to assist customers in addressing unforeseen wardrobe problems or getting customers the right clothing for various occasions.

Dive Insight:

Since Amazon has lured shoppers with the promise of two-day delivery as part of their Prime membership, retailers have been racing to keep up with the growing demand for fast, free fulfillment. Amazon's shift to one-day shipping has both boosted the company's sales but also taken a bite out of its profits. 

Other retailers have aimed to keep up with Amazon, but many retailers shifting to one-day or same-day shipping, such as Walmart, CVS and Target. Last November, Target teamed up with Shipt to offer same-day shipping to its customers.

But there's some precedent for clothing retailers to test out faster shipping. Macy's, for example, has tested same-day delivery in a few markets. American Apparel also introduced one-hour delivery via Postmates back in 2016. Old Navy, which like Banana Republic is under the Gap Inc. umbrella, has been using Postmates for some time now to drive holiday sales.

"Our Delivery as a Service product is growing quickly, in fact it's grown more than 300% year over year," Postmates COO Vivek Patel said in a statement. "With clothing orders up 60%, we know that more retailers will be looking to Postmates to provide convenience through delivery to their customers."

In a statement, Banana Republic Chief Marketing Officer Mary Alderete noted that the company's BOPIS program was "seeing continued success" and that same-day delivery was a natural next step for the apparel retailer.  

Eighty-five percent of customers who take advantage of BOPIS make additional purchases while visiting the store, per a shopper survey by return service Doddle.