Backlash at delivery service for listing indie shops without consent

Small business owners in Bristol were surprised to discover their products listed and marked up on a new same-day delivery website without their consent.

Bristol24/7 found that the service, called Hyperspace, added a number of shops to its platform without permission, including Mon Pote, Plant Studio, USTUDIO and Zara’s Chocolate.

The website describes itself as “a marketplace for your favourite independent stores”.

Following enquiries from Bristol24/7 on Monday, one shop sent a cease and desist letter to Hyperspace and was quickly removed from the platform.

A spokesperson for Hyperspace said the company was inspired by Silicon Valley startup culture and had “good intentions” to bring speed and convenience to the independent shopping space.

However, they acknowledged that this does not excuse its “guerrilla listings”.

Mon Pote told Bristol24/7 it prefers to handle its own deliveries – photo: Sam McEvans

Retailers said they were concerned about “reputational damage” to their brands if products were handled by an unauthorised third party.

Anna Clements, founder and owner of Mon Pote on North Street, said: “We don’t know this person.

“We don’t know if the delivery promises are going to be kept, what condition they’re getting things in and who is dealing with refunds.

“The website looks like it’s been scraped, but it’s not synced, so the stock isn’t going to be accurate.

“Our products are priced really carefully and this distorts how much we charge for everything.”

Alina Hibert at Plant Studio added: “We haven’t been told about it.

“We would be open to it because we’ve been trying to find a local delivery service but if they’re doing it without telling us we probably wouldn’t go with them.

“We need a delivery service that we know can deliver plants safely.”

Hyperspace listed this disco ball planter from Plant Studio with a £3.99 markup – image: Hyperspace

Zara’s Chocolates raised concerns about product quality, especially during the current heatwave.

Supervisor Katie Water said: “We pride ourselves on making the best quality product we can.

“We don’t want to send it out above 24 degrees because it’ll just arrive in a puddle.

“Everyone around here is community focused and looks out for each other. This doesn’t feel very Bristol.”

The chocolatier currently uses Pedal as its preferred local courier service and deliberately suspends deliveries during periods of extreme heat.

The North Street chocolatier prides itself on its handmade products – photo: Sam McEvans

Bristol24/7 tested out Hyperspace’s £3.99 same-day service and successfully ordered and received a beauty product from Wildly Beautiful Things in a brown paper bag.

Arriving at 7pm that day, the order was dropped off within the stated evening delivery window, which the company said is designed to “ensure deliveries take place when people are actually home”.

Hyperspace said it began adding sellers to its platform in February and has completed more than 50 deliveries to date, with repeat customers emerging.

BakeryNumberEight recently became an official Hyperspace partner, after previously working with Good Sixty.

“It adds extra convenience for our customers and helps spread the word. That’s always helpful for new people to discover us,” said Megan Shaw, who bakes and sells letterbox brownies and cookies.

Shaw was surprised to hear about the experiences of other businesses and described Hyperspace’s onboarding and order handling processes as “very thorough”.

Holly Webb, senior associate at law firm Burges Salmon, said that in principle a platform can refer to a retailer’s brand and products without its consent.

However, copying product descriptions, images or branding without permission may infringe copyright, database rights or trade mark rights.

“Ideally, the platform should use independently created, factual listings; avoid copying protected content or implying any commercial connection and otherwise not infringe IP rights. Better still, it should obtain the consent of the retailer,” she added.

Mon Pote products were displayed on the Hyperspace website but stock levels may have been inaccurate – image: Hyperspace

In response, a spokesperson for Hyperspace said: “I’m not going to dispute the facts.

“Some Bristol shops were listed on Hyperspace without being asked first, and where shops have raised it, I’ve taken them offline and apologised to them directly.

“That was the wrong way round, and I’ve said as much to them.

“Hyperspace is trying to solve a real problem: independent shops can’t easily offer same-day local delivery, and customers increasingly want it.

“Like a lot of early marketplaces, the hardest part is the chicken-and-egg one.

“Shops are understandably cautious about signing up to something unproven, and you can’t prove it’s wanted without real orders.

“I made the call to list some shops to test whether the demand was actually there, with the intention of going to those shops with the results and converting them into proper partners.

“The demand turned out to be real.

“That doesn’t make listing shops without asking the right way to have gone about it, and I’m not pretending otherwise.

“The lesson I’ve taken is the obvious one.”

As of Wednesday, all shops have been delisted from Hyperspace, apart from consenting partners BakeryNumberEight, GameReadySystems and Wildly Beautiful Things.

Main photo: Sam McEvans

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