Is NearSt the app to save the British high street?

A new Deliveroo-style online delivery platform for shops could help boost sales on UK high streets. The NearSt app allows a customer to buy a product from the high street and have a driver collect it from the store and deliver it within an hour. Retailers participate by providing their in-store inventory online. The concept offers a shorter delivery time than online retailers such as Amazon, which may have to deliver from out-of-town or edge-of-town warehouses. The venture expects to have partnered with 250 shops in London by the year end, and has an expansion target of at least 3,000 shops in the city by the end of 2017. Speaking at the Wired retail conference this week, NearSt founder Nick Brackenbury said: “We do not think that it is about getting products from a warehouse faster and faster, but putting products where people are when they want to buy them, and we can do this. “It involves the shop, and the next big innovation is having products where customers are the moment that they actually want them,” he added. Near St is planning to expand to other major UK cities and Europe after it has established its London partnerships. The delivery platform raised its start-up capital though The Accelerator Group last year when it secured £180,000. NearSt is now in the process of raising another £500,000, which it hopes to secure by the year end.