Research finds delivery promises not up to speed

The research found that the shortest delivery promises are also the most likely to break – at a time when UK shoppers are becoming more cautious and less forgiving of service failures.

The analysis by logistics tech firm Locus found that across 500,000 orders, brands promising a shorter delivery time demonstrated a 104.5% increase in delays compared to those with longer delivery windows.

Networks with rapid delivery times experienced an average delay of 4.6 days, compared with 1.1 days for those using wider scheduling windows.

And reflecting the need by UK buyers for predictability rather than speed, only 4% of shoppers expected same-day delivery, while 83% were content with two to four days.

Only 7% said fast delivery promises were consistently met.

Ultra-fast delivery promises are growing among retailers. Amazon recently expanded one-hour and three-hour delivery, while JD.com has entered the UK and Europe with same-day delivery positioned as a key differentiator in major cities.

Nishith Rastogi, founder and CEO of Locus, said this type of delivery was being pushed as a default option, despite most networks not being set up to achieve these speeds: “Outside of very dense urban routes, those short windows leave almost no room to recover when something changes,” he said.

“That is why you start to see failure rates rise as soon as you scale it.

“At the same time, most customers are not asking for one-hour delivery. They are comfortable waiting, as long as the experience is predictable and well handled.”

He added: “The issue is not speed itself, it is where and how it is being applied. Retailers need to be far more selective about when they offer ultra-fast delivery, and make sure the promise reflects what the operation can actually support in that location.”