A recent survey by crowdsourced delivery platform Roadie and studioID reveals brands are responding to customer demand for faster delivery by enhancing their fulfillment options in the last mile. Roadie and studioID surveyed more than 200 retail and supply chain leaders to better understand how these companies decide what changes to make in the last mile and which providers to partner with.

Responses revealed three key themes regarding how organizations think about ultrafast delivery:

• Customers expect same-day delivery, and they’re willing to pay for it.
• Same-day delivery generates an immediate, positive effect on sales.
• Brands face challenges with last-mile delivery operations.

The findings reveal that brands are using same-day and next-day delivery to attract and retain customers, and they offer insight into what those companies value in an ultrafast-delivery provider.

Customers expect same-day delivery, and they’re willing to pay for it.

Half of the retail and supply chain leaders surveyed said they offer or would offer same-day delivery because customers expect and demand it. Nearly two-thirds (64%) said that they believed more than 40% of shoppers would be willing to pay a higher price for products with a same-day delivery option. And 30% of respondents said they believed the majority of shoppers — 61% or more — would do so.

Same-day delivery generates an immediate, positive effect on sales.

Respondents saw several upsides for their business as a result of adopting same-day delivery. Adding that option meant they could:

• Sell more.
• Hang onto current customers.
• Attract new customers.
• Keep customers happy and satisfied.

The benefits of ultrafast delivery don’t eliminate the challenges brands face when implementing the offering, however.

More than two out of five logistics executives surveyed cited concerns about rising transportation rates and inflation’s effect on the costs of goods and services in relation to their last-mile delivery strategies.

Other commonly cited challenges, pain points and unmet needs for their current last-mile delivery operations or adoption plans include:

• Staffing challenges, such as not having enough drivers.
• Rising costs.
• The need for real-time tracking technology.
• Optimizing route planning.
• Getting accurate demand assessments.
• Supply chain issues.
• Increasing reliability.
• COVID-19 issues.

Several challenges shared involve internal operations. They include a lack of buy-in from leadership on addressing a last-mile strategy and difficulty determining what products to offer for e-commerce.

Respondents also addressed ultrafast-delivery solutions. Understanding that they need flexibility and scalability to fulfill orders whenever and wherever customers want them, 51% of the retail and logistics executives surveyed said they preferred partnerships with third parties over building in-house capabilities (49%) for last-mile delivery. Four in 10 respondents recommended crowdsourced delivery specifically.

“What came through clearly in the survey responses is that organizations know they need to offer same-day delivery because there’s a lot at stake. When customers want something quickly, they’ll go with the provider that can get the order to them when they need it,” said Valerie Metzker, head of partnerships and enterprise sales at Roadie.

“Once brands update their internal processes and technology, the right delivery partner can set them up to fulfill and deliver from stores and fulfillment centers quickly so they can give their customers what they want, need and expect,” Metzker added.

To read more findings from the survey, please click here: Roadie’s 2022 Last-Mile Outlook: The Future of Crowdsourced Delivery

Survey Methodology

Roadie, a UPS Company, collaborated with studioID to field an online, invitation-only survey, polling 200 retail and supply chain leaders during the first quarter of 2022. The survey consisted of multiple-choice, open-ended, Likert-scale and matrix questions to understand brands’ last-mile fulfillment priorities in the face of shifting customer expectations around faster delivery. The questionnaire consisted of themes to better understand why brands are looking to offer same-day delivery as a service, what challenges they face for implementation and what strategic partnerships they are looking into to enhance their approach to last-mile or same-day delivery. Thirty-seven percent of respondents were C-suite executives at retail and supply chain organizations. The other survey respondents included directors or senior directors (38%) and vice presidents, executive vice presidents or senior vice presidents (25%). The executives represented companies across various industry sectors, including retail/consumer products, electronics, technology, automotive/OEM, and apparel/clothing.