A growing number of retailers this holiday season are focusing on delivering packages to customers on specific dates, rather than at the fastest speed possible, the Wall Street Journal reports.
Helping drive the trend: As inflation-conscious consumers reduce their online shopping, many retailers are focused on restraining the high costs of fulfillment and “last-mile” delivery.
Amazon was a major force in getting shoppers hooked on next-day and same-day delivery. In 2019, the e-commerce giant also gave its Prime members the option to pick a specific delivery date. Other retailers and logistics operators are now following suit.
The choice in shipping options lets consumers see that faster delivery carries a higher cost, said Jason Murray, Co-Founder and Chief Executive of e-commerce fulfillment service provider Shipium Corp.
“You need to have a way to express that calculus to people, that trade-off,” Murray told the Journal.
The experience of Chinese online apparel retailer Shein, known for its low-price and trendy clothing and accessories, suggests that rapid sales growth and superfast delivery don’t have to go hand-in-hand, even in fast fashion.
The company expects to hit $24 billion in sales this year by focusing on the front end of its supply chain, which includes manufacturing and shipping out of Guangzhou, China.
Shein does plan to expand its North American business by opening three distribution centers in the U.S., but those will only speed up delivery by three or four days, roughly half the time it takes now to get its goods from China to the American market.
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