According to data from retail logistics SaaS startup Shippit, one in five online orders placed over the Black Friday and Cyber Monday weekend were not delivered on time. The weekend saw a huge spike in online and in-store retail purchases which put pressure on logistics providers.
Orders placed during the Black Friday and Cyber Monday period accounted for 3.5% of annual online orders, up from 2.1% in 2018. While almost 20% of all deliveries arrived late, Shippit found that results were even worse for express delivery, with one logistics provider delivering only 64% of its parcels in full and on time.
This drop in carrier performance has a serious impact on the customer experience for online shopping, according to Shippit. As delivery plays a major role in the online purchasing experience, the number of support enquiries related to delayed deliveries more than doubled following the weekend, the company reported.
Rob Hango-Zada, joint-CEO of Shippit, said, “Future growth in online retail is dependent on more reliable delivery experiences for shoppers. Australia’s largest retailers have invested significantly in ensuring they can dispatch orders faster than ever with many offering same-day dispatch even during peak. On the other hand, there has been a consistent trend of carriers facing overwhelming demand, which hasn’t been met with the capacity to deliver on time to the end customer.”