On-Time Performance
Month over month, on-time performance remains stable with a 1% improvement between March and April. April 2023 is still 3% lower than on-time performance in April 2022, however.
A huge contributing factor in the lower on-time performance rates is the aggressive timeframe that some companies promise to deliver within. Companies like Amazon offering next-day delivery changed consumer expectations for online shopping, and companies are pushing warehouses and carriers to match those expectations. As illustrated in the chart below, retail promise times have decreased 30% since 2021, which equates to an average of 2 days. Retailers are still increasing their estimates around the holiday rush, but apart from peak season, this has been a consistent downward trend.
Click-to-Delivery Time
Click-to-delivery time measures the amount of time a consumer waits for their order from the time they place it to when it is delivered and continues to be stable for 2023. This shows that both warehouses and carriers have been able to overcome the labor and capacity issues that were present throughout the entirety of the pandemic.
Looking farther back on historical delivery times, 2023 is seeing the quickest delivery times that the Last Mile market has seen in years. April 2021 saw an average of 5.8 days between the order date and delivery date and April 2022 saw an average of 5.6 days. This has decreased to only 4 days in April 2023, which is a 31% decrease in delivery times.
Carrier Diversification
Carrier Diversification remains much higher than it was a few years ago, however it does seem like it is starting to plateau. This is a result of overall volume being down, meaning that retailers do not need as much capacity as they did in recent years. However, retailers are not being quick to sever ties with new carriers and are continuing to diversify who they are shipping with. While there might not be a huge capacity struggle now, maintaining those relationships can help ease future disruptions.
Customer Complaints
Last mile delivery is far from perfect. Shipping delays make up the largest number of complaints, followed by delivered but missing and damaged. These 3 categories make up over 65% of all complaints.
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