Urbanfetch

Urbanfetch was an Internet company founded in 1999 which enabled customers to order products (DVDs, music, books, snacks, gifts, etc.) online and have them delivered by bike messenger in less than an hour within certain delivery areas covering most of Manhattan and London. The company's business plan was essentially identical to that of Kozmo.com, which led to a lawsuit from them. Apparently, the founder of Urbanfetch, Ross Stevens, had been approached to fund Kozmo, but instead launched a competing business with an identical business model.[1] The suit was settled in December 1999.[2]

Urbanfetch, like Kozmo, charged no delivery fee and sometimes offered significant discounts. Urbanfetch also gave away free T-shirts and hats with each order when it first launched and provided free warm cookies with each order. Urbanfetch ceased operations in 2000,[3] but its corporate delivery division was sold to Urban Express, a traditional courier service.

Urbanfetch became somewhat of a joke after an episode of The Daily Show parodied their business model to the Post Office.[4]

References

  1. ↑ "Putting Kozmo to the Test," June Kim and Sarah Lorge, SmartMoney, March 29, 2000
  2. ↑ "Kozmo.com and UrbanFetch.com settle recent Lawsuit," BusinessWire, 13 December 1999
  3. ↑ Sandoval, Greg (2000-10-12). "Urbanfetch to stop delivering goods to consumers". CNET (CNET). Retrieved 2013-10-15.
  4. ↑ September 07, 2011 - Dr. Sanjay Gupta Views: 266,087 Aired: 09/07/11 Episode 16112


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