New York landlords both big and small are signing up for this tenant-drawing amenity en masse. (Spoiler alert: It’s not Peloton.)
It’s Avo, the free same-day delivery service that’s proven to be incredibly popular with both tenants and landlords. Avo offers eco-friendly delivery on food, groceries, alcohol, personal/household items, electronics and more — with no minimum order requirement and no subscription fees: You can order as little as a single avocado. And it’s not just the tenants who are loving this service, but the building managements and their staffs, too.
Landlords know that tenants have more options right now than at any time since the ’08 financial crisis due to the Covid-19 pandemic. As a result, they are looking for an edge to persuade potential new tenants and retain existing ones.
Major multifamily and commercial building owners including Extell, Tishman Speyer, Greystar, Related, Equity Residential and more have already partnered with Avo in hopes of attracting tenants and improving their delivery operations. Making it even sweeter for landlords: Avo offers its service at no cost for select developers.
Without the ability to offer most high-end amenities due to Covid-19 restrictions, building executives have been challenged to deliver useful amenities. Providing a safe, complimentary personal shopping experience for tenants via Avo has been a big win for resident-focused developers.
“We have always been committed to providing our residents with thoughtful amenities and services that genuinely speak to their needs,” said Rebecca Park, director of lifestyle services at Extell. “Even more so today, we are compelled to offer a safe and seamless living experience, and our exclusive partnership with Avo provides just that for our residents.”
In a 2020 S&P global study, 38.8% of U.S. consumers said they did some or all of their grocery shopping online as a result of the pandemic. NYC landlords have seen this increase in deliveries (particularly in perishable deliveries) over the course of the past year, leaving staff overwhelmed with packages to manage and multiple delivery carriers to monitor in and out of their buildings.
“Avo’s amenity — same-day, no-fee grocery delivery — has been a huge hit with our residents,” said Mario Gaztambide, senior managing director at LeFrak. “Our onsite staff also love it because they come once a day and help relieve some delivery congestion from our lobbies”
Avo’s delivery carriers are fully insured employees and streamline all deliveries so they only do one drop-off a day per building. Avo handles delivery handoffs with texts directly to residents when items are delivered, eliminating the need for staff to take on the delivery transfer and for residents to wait for building notifications.
The trend toward increased delivery shows no sign of slowing down. Forbes predicts consumers’ Covid-era behavior changes will be permanent and emphasizes that “sticky” consumer behaviors will drive continued rising demand for delivery, as well as higher delivery standards.
“Avo has been a huge success with our tenants,” Al Shehada, FirstService Residential property manager at the American Copper Buildings, enthused. “The residents love the convenience, and there are absolutely no fees or strings attached for ownership. It’s been several months now since we rolled out, and we continue to receive nothing but positive feedback on what a lifesaver this has been for residents.”
Similarly, as promises of mass vaccinations have begun bringing people back to New York, Avo has partnered with commercial office buildings to offer employees the same personalized shopping experience. With a return to the office on the horizon for many in the fall of this year and into 2022, Avo is not only set to serve these commercial buildings, but actually get back to its roots there.
“As a first step, we launched Avo to solve the need for fast and reliable delivery in commercial office buildings,” Avo CEO Dekel Valtzer shared. “We accelerated our residential partnerships during the pandemic to best suit consumer needs, and are proud that a significant portion of our product offerings on Avo come directly from local NYC businesses. We look forward to helping property managers serve their residents, employees and surrounding local businesses for years to come.”
As Avo looks to expand its value for landlords and tenants even further, it’s planning to introduce services such as dry cleaning, dog walking and apartment cleaning. It has also recently introduced complimentary virtual events for partners. Residents “Avo” their ingredients in advance and join a live, virtual event exclusively hosted for their building. Recent events include cocktail-making classes with leading NYC mixologists, pizza-making classes with Roberta’s head chef Carlo Mirarchi and fine-dining cooking lessons with renowned chef and restaurateur Daniel Boulud.
Things are looking up for NYC residents as the city waits to see what life in a post-Covid world will look like. Should they need anything in the interim? Avo it.
Help your tenants skip the line, and start offering Avo in your building by clicking here, emailing josh@avonow.com or calling 205-843-9893.