Birmingham’s Shipt featured on CNBC, continues to expand nationwide

If you live in Birmingham, you’ve probably heard about Shipt. The grocery delivery service that started right here in Birmingham was recently bought by Target for 550 million dollars, and it’s currently bringing tons of new jobs to Birmingham.The grocery delivery service that started right here in Birmingham was recently bought by Target for 550 million dollars, and it’s currently bringing tons of new jobs to Birmingham. (881, to be exact.)

However, the days of Shipt only being a household name in Bham are long gone. Thanks in part to its purchase by Target and the subsequent publicity that has followed, including a featured article on CNBC, Shipt is now known around the country as a leader in the grocery-delivery business.Not too shabby for a business that started right here in Birmingham only four short years ago. But, how exactly did we get to this point?

Let’s rewind

Bill Smith, who built Shipt from the ground up, is a high school dropout. He reportedly spent his childhood watching his father take on many an entrepreneurial endeavor, and decided that he too had the entrepreneurial spirit and know-how to someday start his own business. He was so confident in this, in fact, that he decided to drop out of high school and get started. This decision, although it did not go over well with Smith’s father, was totally supported by his high school advisors. They knew that he had what it took to succeed.

Smith went on to start many small-scale projects, get his GED, and even attend college for a brief period. But when he had the idea for Shipt, he knew he had struck gold.

Like all start-ups, there were hiccups. But once he got those under control and honed his focus on grocery stores only, Smith and the Shipt team were off to the races.

A Target on their back, and for good reason

Target, being the retail giant that it is, knows a good investment when it sees one. The corporation has partnered with industry giants such as Lily Pulitzer, Hunter, Converse and others, and can now add Shipt to its list. But Target isn’t just partnering with Shipt. The corporation purchased Shipt in December of 2017 and has since been able to help with Shipt’s nationwide aspirations.

After Birmingham, Smith started spreading Shipt’s services to other states. He started with the Southeast, as he really wanted to put priority on the “normal, middle-America type” cities, like Birmingham. The growth from there has been expansive. Services are now available in many different store all over the U.S. Shipt services have expanded to Chicago, Texas, Maine, and Colorado in addition to others. Because of Target’s ownership of Shipt, it has now become the first ever big-box store to offer delivery services in the state of Connecticut.  

Hometown hero

So, while Birmingham will always be able to claim Shipt as one of its own, the Shipt story is reaching farther and higher than just Birmingham. Features like the one in CNCBC, as well as features in USA Today, The Wall Street Journal, PopSugar and other media sites will continue to shed light on the amazing company as they continue to grow.