The news: Saks Off Fifth last week announced it would begin providing a concrete delivery date for all possible shipping methods at checkout, allowing customers to select the day and cost option that best suit their delivery needs.
- The retailer worked with fulfillment technology vendor Shipium to facilitate the strategic shift away from focusing on how quickly they get a consumer’s online order to their doorstep.
- In doing so, it aims to help relieve some of the burden and high cost of fulfillment.
Taking a page from Amazon: Saks Off Fifth’s strategy echoes an approach pioneered by Amazon.
- While Amazon has driven consumers to expect rapid delivery via its investments in next-day and same-day delivery, it has also allowed Amazon Prime members to select a specific delivery day since 2019.
- The approach aims to help avoid the threat of package theft; porch piracy has grown 23% over the past 12 months, per SafeWise’s Package Theft Report.
The big takeaway: Faster isn’t always better, particularly for urban dwellers who are most at risk of package theft.
- Seventy-nine percent of US consumers have been a victim of package theft in the last 12 months, a 15 percentage point increase year-over-year, per SafeWise’s report.
- Giving consumers the certainty of when an item can arrive creates a win-win given that it can cut a retailer’s fulfillment costs and reduce the likelihood an order will be stolen off the shopper’s porch.
This article originally appeared in Insider Intelligence's Retail & Ecommerce Briefing—a daily recap of top stories reshaping the retail industry. Subscribe to have more hard-hitting takeaways delivered to your inbox daily.
