Last-mile delivery reliability has surpassed speed as the second-most important factor for consumers choosing a shipping option, trailing only price, according to Jake Stein, Vice President of Retail Growth at Burq, an AI-enabled last-mile platform. The shift carries direct consequences for retailers that have not diversified their carrier networks, Stein told FreightWaves.
Reliability Overtakes Speed in Consumer Priorities
Stein cited McKinsey research showing that delivery speed, once ranked second, has fallen to roughly fifth place in consumer delivery priorities, while reliability — the accuracy of a stated delivery window — is now number two, just behind price. "It used to be, you know, price then speed," Stein said. "Now speed is down about number 5, and reliability or accuracy of the delivery is number 2 after price."
The finding reframes where last-mile investment delivers the highest return. Rather than bidding on faster windows, Stein argued, merchants stand to gain more by guaranteeing that a stated delivery promise — even a two-day window — is actually met. "If you're paying a lot for a specific speed delivery and it doesn't go well, you're a lot more disappointed than if it's perhaps free and doesn't go well," he said.
| Consumer Priority | Old Rank | New Rank |
|---|---|---|
| Price | 1 | 1 |
| Speed | 2 | ~5 |
| Reliability | ? | 2 |
"It used to be, you know, price then speed. Now speed is down about number 5, and reliability or accuracy of the delivery is number 2 after price." — Jake Stein, Burq
The Case for a Multi-Provider Model
Stein, who previously worked at Uber Direct, said his experience there showed that even a platform with strong global supply and heavy U.S. and Canada presence leaves gaps for individual retailers. His case for a multi-provider, or hybrid, model rests on three pressure points: supply shortfalls from a single vendor, system outages, and performance degradation. Connecting via API to dozens of providers forces the primary carrier to compete on cost and flexibility while giving merchants a fallback network.
Delivery choice is also a conversion lever. Stein stated that retailers showing only standard or next-day shipping risk cart abandonment from shoppers who want same-day delivery, a two-hour window for high-value items requiring proof of delivery or a PIN code, or simply want to match their purchase urgency to a service level they trust. "If the retailer doesn't offer all of those particular shipping options in that particular buying experience, they're going to go somewhere else," Stein said.
For retailers looking to rethink their delivery strategy, Stein recommended starting with behavioral data — tracking whether customers are drilling into shipping-options pages, selecting faster tiers, or abandoning carts entirely. A platform layer that surfaces those signals can identify, for example, that a specific customer abandoned checkout because a desired service level was not offered, giving merchants a data-backed case for adding it to their e-commerce or app experience.
Autonomous and Drone Delivery: Promise vs Reality
On autonomous and drone delivery, Stein was measured. He said drones will eventually create meaningful cost advantages — citing prescription drop-offs as one near-term use case — but that regulatory hurdles around airspace control will slow adoption. Autonomous ground vehicles face a different challenge: most current deployments still require the customer to retrieve the package from the vehicle rather than receiving a doorstep delivery, which Stein said falls short of what consumers are actually paying for in convenience-driven last-mile services.
For logistics operators and freight forwarders, the key takeaway is that investing in reliability through diversified carrier networks and data-informed service offerings can yield higher returns than racing to reduce delivery times. Burq's hybrid API model exemplifies how technology can bridge supply gaps and improve performance — a trend that is reshaping last-mile expectations.
Sources:
