The Loadstar: E-commerce customers now prefer guaranteed delivery dates to speed

“This is more of a trend in retail, driven of course by Amazon. One of the things Amazon has learned over the years is that consumers dislike early delivery almost as much as late delivery,” said Rick Watson, founder and CEO of strategist RMW Commerce Consulting.

Date-definite delivery solves the issues, as well as makes for a more reliable supply chain, reducing costs at the same time,” he added. “While Amazon drove the need for next-day delivery, it is not really possible to do that across 100% of their stock, because of proximity of goods to consumers,” he said.

“I think, while Amazon has the best next-day capabilities, it will also continue to push consumers with incentives to optimise its fulfilment network, and its own costs. At the end of the day, the more things in the same box and the higher density routes they can run, the more profitable it will be.”

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