With more logistic facilities opening up throughout the US—and retailers doing a better job of communicating with customers about delivery options—most deliveries managed to meet holiday deadlines and satisfy consumer expectations.
Consulting firm Kurt Salmon—a part of Accenture Strategy—placed orders at 52 US retailers, ranging from big-box stores to online-only brands. Roughly 93% of retailers successfully completed deliveries to their customers by the last guaranteed shipping date.
Amazon stood out as one of the top performers, delivering up until midnight on Christmas Eve through its Amazon Prime Now service, and fulfilled orders placed on December 22 by Christmas. Nordstrom, lululemon and Best Buy were among the top-performing retailers.
According to data from Rakuten Intelligence, analyzed the week of December 2, Amazon also had the fastest average delivery time, from click to door—3.4 days. In contrast, Best Buy averaged 4.6 days, as did Target, while Walmart averaged 5.5 days.
“Amazon has always set the pace for fast delivery, but the good news for consumers is that the rest of the industry has been catching up,” said Andrew Lipsman, principal analyst at eMarketer. “Click-to-door times continue to get better and almost all packages are getting where they need to be by critical deadlines.”
A separate study Rakuten Intelligence conducted last year already noted how much Amazon had pushed other retailers to shrink their delivery windows.