eTailer Deliveries Getting Faster

In the race against Amazon, retailers are ramping up their delivery speed, looking to deliver the goods against the famed two-day delivery guarantee that the eCommerce giant has promised its 63 million Prime customers based in the United States.

Internet Retailer reported that, against a backdrop where Amazon has captured 33 percent of the online retail share pie, as measured by 2015 data, up from 25 percent in 2012, those competitors are gaining some ground.

The outlet said its studies show that, upon tracking shipment speed, order turnarounds and even returns for 30 top online retailers, the past three years have shown marked improvement. The keys lie with building out more distribution centers and stocking merchandise close to heavily populated areas where demand lies. The average delivery time for the 30 retailers tracked shows that complete order fulfillment took four days. Three years ago, that average was eight days — a big improvement, though admittedly lagging the Amazon two-day guarantee.

Marquee names such as Walmart have taken two days off their delivery times in the past two years. Also of note, Best Buy took its time down from nearly seven days in 2014 to three days this year, a sharp decline tied to double-digit percentage growth in web sales and investment in digital efforts, including a more efficient checkout and distribution process.