DHL said last week it is launching a new same-day and next-day delivery service for online retailers in Chicago, New York and Los Angeles. The service will expand to Dallas, Atlanta, San Francisco and Washington, D.C., by the end of the year, and will rapidly add more cities over the next few years.

“We pay a lot of attention to what consumers are demanding of the online marketplaces and retailers they’re buying from,” said Lee Spratt, chief executive of DHL eCommerce’s Americas division. “Faster, cost-effective delivery is going to be a future requirement to play in this space.”

The firm has been testing its new delivery service, dubbed Parcel Metro, in select cities over the last two years. The service engages drivers through crowd-sourced applications for deliveries within a few hours and taps into local couriers and delivery companies for one- and two-day deliveries, using DHL eCommerce’s warehouse facilities to consolidate orders.

DHL’s move to launch some U.S. delivery services again could increase competition for both UPS and FedEx, currently the dominant players in speedy e-commerce deliveries in the U.S.

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