E-commerce fights back: So do home delivery costs and consumer expectations 5
Q: What initiatives are you pursuing to improve your home delivery operations from a service
and cost perspective?
FIGURE 4: INITIATIVES TO IMPROVE HOME DELIVERY OPERATIONS
Source: AlixPartners Home Delivery Survey, 2023
70%
Distribution network optimization
19%
Owned or managed fleet
34%
Alternative carrier providers (crowd source/on demand)
49%
Diversified carrier strategy (beyond 2 national providers by adding regional carriers)
55%
Optimized inventory placement
63%
Planning and execution technology platforms (TMS, order/route optimization, etc.)
2%
None of the above
16%
Robotics and new-to-market equipment (drones, unmanned delivery bots, etc.)
Our 2023 study suggests home delivery demand, expectations, and business models will continue to
evolve. Shippers need to maintain a high service level to meet customers' expectations while keeping an
eye on managing and reducing operating costs per package (figure 4).
VIGILANCE REQUIRED
Importantly, tech solutions that enable these initiatives must be deployed.
We recommend that each shipper develop a robust pipeline of cost-reduction or avoidance initiatives by
leveraging one or more of these tactics:
Building long-term, strategic
partnerships with large
national carriers
Developing relationships with
small regional carriers
1 2 3 4
Building an internal fleet Optimizing outbound
footprint, and lowering split
shipments