7 Proven Ways to Improve Delivery Ecommerce Performance with Shipway

Delivering products swiftly and reliably has become a decisive factor for winning and retaining customers in delivery ecommerce. Fast delivery options like same-day (SDD) and next-day delivery (NDD) have shifted from being premium conveniences to essential expectations that can make or break an online business. Meeting these delivery standards not only enhances customer satisfaction but also drives repeat purchases and helps brands differentiate themselves in an increasingly competitive ecommerce marketplace.

In today’s market, consumers demand more than just speed they expect transparency, flexible delivery options, and proactive communication throughout the shipping journey. Nearly 95% of shoppers want issues resolved during transit, while a growing number insist on real-time tracking and personalized delivery slots. For businesses operating in delivery ecommerce, adapting to these evolving customer expectations is no longer optional. Ensuring reliable, transparent, and flexible shipping experiences is key to staying competitive, reducing cart abandonment, and building long-term customer loyalty.

Industry data highlights the urgency of optimizing delivery ecommerce operations. Only about 45% of retailers consistently meet delivery speed expectations, even as the global average ecommerce delivery time has improved to roughly 3.7 days—a 27% year-over-year improvement. Meanwhile, 77% of online shoppers now expect deliveries within two hours, and 69% are likely to abandon a brand after a failed delivery experience. In India, ecommerce logistics handled an estimated 4.9–5.3 billion shipments in FY 2025, with return-to-origin (RTO) rates hovering around 15–20%, emphasizing the persistent challenges businesses face in meeting growing delivery demands.

This blog explores proven strategies to enhance your delivery ecommerce performance, leveraging technology, process optimization, and customer-focused solutions to transform shipping operations into a key driver of growth and profitability.

What Is Delivery Ecommerce?

Delivery ecommerce refers to the complete process of shipping online orders from sellers to customers, including courier selection, order fulfillment, last-mile delivery, tracking, and returns management.

Top E-commerce Delivery Challenges and How to Overcome Them

Despite the booming growth of delivery ecommerce, businesses face persistent challenges that can undermine their shipping efficiency and customer satisfaction. These hurdles complicate efforts to meet increasing consumer demand for fast, reliable deliveries and create friction in the customer experience.

• Rising Shipping Costs: Escalating expenses related to fuel, labor, and logistics impact profitability. Balancing affordable delivery options with maintaining healthy margins is a critical concern for many online sellers.
• Demand for Speedy Delivery: Same-day delivery (SDD) and next-day delivery (NDD) have become expected standards. Businesses failing to offer these options risk losing customers to faster competitors.
• Limited Geographic Reach: Inefficient courier partnerships and last-mile delivery complexities limit coverage, restricting growth potential and customer access.
• Inventory and Order Management Issues: Poor synchronization between inventory levels and orders can cause delays and stockouts, impacting delivery promises.
• Lack of Tracking and Communication: Customers expect real-time tracking and proactive updates. Gaps in communication often lead to frustration and loss of trust.
• Returns and Reverse Logistics: Managing returns efficiently adds operational complexity and cost, but is necessary to maintain customer loyalty.

Addressing these challenges through strategic courier selection, technology adoption, and operational improvements is essential for businesses to thrive in the competitive delivery ecommerce landscape.​

 What Are the Proven Ways to Solve E-commerce Delivery Challenges?

Improving delivery ecommerce performance requires effective strategies supported by real-world impact. Here are seven proven ways businesses can enhance their shipping and delivery, complete with evidence from case studies and industry insights:

1. Offer Multiple Delivery Options:

Flexible options like same-day delivery (SDD), next-day delivery (NDD), and standard shipping cater to diverse customer needs. Offering these delivery choices allows customers to decide based on urgency and cost, directly reducing cart abandonment rates. For example, Flipkart’s integration of SDD and NDD options has significantly boosted customer satisfaction and repeat purchases by aligning delivery promises with consumer expectations.​

2. Leverage Courier Aggregators for Wider Reach:

Using aggregator platforms such as Shipway provides access to multiple courier partners, enabling sellers to serve a broader geographic area without managing multiple relationships individually. This strategy reduces last-mile delays, improves delivery reliability, and drives cost efficiencies by optimizing courier selection per region and order type. Businesses employing such aggregators report better on-time delivery rates and fewer failed deliveries.​

3. Automate Order and Inventory Management:

Manual processes lead to errors and delays, especially during peak seasons. Automation tools that integrate order acceptance, inventory control, and dispatch scheduling help ensure stock levels are accurately maintained, and orders are fulfilled without delay. Ridgeway Farm, for instance, achieved time savings and reduced costs by automating their delivery route planning and order management, which enhanced coordination across supply chain touchpoints.​

4. Implement Real-Time Tracking and Proactive Customer Communication:

Transparency in delivery status reassures customers and builds long-term trust. Providing real-time tracking and automated updates on shipment progress, delays, or exceptions can reduce customer-engagement costs and lower missed delivery rates by up to 35%. Predictive analytics further enable proactive issue resolution before customers are impacted, elevating the overall delivery experience.​

5. Optimize Last-Mile Delivery Operations Using Advanced Technology:

Last-mile delivery is often the costliest and most complex part of delivery ecommerce. Technologies such as AI-driven route optimization, dynamic scheduling, and localized fulfillment centers reduce transit times and fuel consumption. Case studies have shown that these optimizations can cut last-mile delivery times by 20% and reduce fuel costs by 15%, ensuring faster deliveries without escalating expenses.​

6. Streamline Returns and Reverse Logistics:

A hassle-free returns process is essential for modern shoppers and can differentiate a brand. Smooth reverse logistics, including easy-to-access return options and automated refunds, foster customer confidence and retention. Efficient returns management reduces delivery failures by 40%, minimizes cost impacts, and encourages repeat purchases by simplifying post-sale experiences.

7. Leverage Data Analytics to Continuously Improve Delivery Performance:

Ongoing monitoring of key performance indicators like delivery times, courier reliability, and customer feedback helps identify inefficiencies and optimize logistics operations. Businesses leveraging advanced analytics can make data-driven decisions to improve courier partner selection, refine last-mile strategies, and balance cost with delivery speed. This continuous improvement cycle strengthens competitive advantage and supports scalable growth in delivery ecommerce.​

By applying these proven delivery ecommerce strategies, businesses not only meet the increasing demands of today’s consumers but also create resilient, efficient, and customer-friendly shipping operations. This holistic approach turns shipping challenges into strategic strengths, driving customer loyalty, increasing sales, and securing sustainable growth in a dynamic marketplace.

How Selecting the Right Courier Improves Delivery Time and Cost

Matching shipments with couriers that excel in specific regions and order types reduces transit times and missed deliveries, enhancing customer satisfaction. The strategic selection minimizes expensive shipping methods when unnecessary, lowering logistics expenses. It also prevents delays by allocating orders to partners with proven performance in those geographies, reducing return-to-origin (RTO) incidents and repeat deliveries. 

How Shipway Helps Sellers Improve Delivery Performance

Shipway by Unicommerce bridges this gap by helping brands simplify courier management, automate dispatches, and gain complete visibility into their logistics network. By turning delivery operations into a well-coordinated, insight-driven process, empowering sellers to improve turnaround time, reduce costs, and consistently meet customer expectations.

• Shipway uses an AI-based platform called ShipSense to automate courier allocation, choosing the best courier for each order based on speed, cost, and regional coverage.
• It segments customers by order value, frequency, and past RTO behavior to assign high-value customers to faster and more reliable couriers while optimizing cost for riskier or lower-value shipments.
• The system dynamically ranks courier partners regularly, utilizing real-time data and machine learning to continuously improve courier selection without manual intervention.
• Shipway’s platform integrates with 600+ carriers, 30+ e-commerce channels, and various warehouse management systems, offering end-to-end order synchronization, real-time tracking, and notifications.
• Features include automated NDR (Non-Delivery Report) management, fraud detection, COD remittance automation, and branded tracking, which enhance delivery success and reduce operational workload.
• Serving over 29,000 pin codes across India, Shipway aggregates multiple courier partners at pre-negotiated rates, ensuring wide regional reach and improved cash flow with faster COD settlements.
• The AI-driven courier intelligence reduces failed deliveries and RTOs by pairing orders with the most suitable courier based on shipment profile and destination, boosting customer satisfaction and logistics efficiency.
• With Shipway’s real-time tracking and automated SMS, WhatsApp, and email updates, customers always know where their order is. It not only improves the post-purchase experience but also reduces “Where is my order?” (WISMO) queries for support teams.

This comprehensive automation and optimization make Shipway an effective tool for scalable, cost-efficient, and reliable e-commerce delivery management.

Wrapping Up

Hence, implementing tools for smart courier selection, real-time tracking, automated NDR handling, and data-driven performance analytics can significantly cut delivery delays and errors. At the same time, optimizing inventory availability and warehouse-to-doorstep coordination ensures that every promise made at checkout is fulfilled with precision.

Equally important is proactive customer communication, keeping shoppers informed at every stage, managing expectations, and turning each delivery into an opportunity to build trust. When these operational strategies come together under one integrated logistics platform, brands can achieve faster turnaround, improved delivery accuracy, and measurable cost efficiency.