Xin Ou
Research expert covering Greater China
E-commerce logistics - statistics & facts
From manufacturing sites to the consumers’ doorsteps, the distribution of products sold online is extremely complex. With retail e-commerce thriving, the volume of parcels handled and delivered to shoppers has increased tremendously over the last years, posing a true challenge to e-tailers and logistics providers. Logistics play a key role in the customer experience and ultimately the perception of online purchases, as much as the characteristics of the products themselves.
From Europe to North America, shippers and logistics providers face higher supply chain costs and are required to fulfill customer expectations in terms of quality and speed of last-mile delivery services. The significant demand for fast delivery is often paired with higher rates of damaged and delayed deliveries than expected. While big groups and marketplaces can allow themselves to reduce shipping margins thanks to different sale strategies, direct-to-consumer players are not going to absorb additional costs related to rapid delivery.
From warehouses to shipping
Except for big retail corporations, most online merchants outsource services of the e-commerce supply chain to third-party logistics (3PL) providers. These companies offer multiple types of online product distribution – from omnichannel to drop shipping. With online consumers expecting fast delivery, time efficiency in order fulfillment is essential. On average, the process takes less than one hour, with nearly 30 percent of professionals estimating it to be under 30 minutes. To improve order-processing speed, distributors adopt enhanced warehousing systems, optimize the entire layout of the warehouse, or employ new pick strategies. At the same time, they employ robotics and consider new packaging techniques and formats.Latest trends
Due to economic uncertainty and the aftermath of the post-pandemic oversupply of warehouse space, the latest figures on the industrial leasing market show that the warehouse leasing activity has generally declined in the United States. In 2025, e-commerce companies revised their spending on real estate and drastically downsized the number and corresponding areas of leases. Compared to 2024, the volume of orders went down on most marketplaces, except for Amazon, which witnessed a stable trend in the average order volume per merchant.From Europe to North America, shippers and logistics providers face higher supply chain costs and are required to fulfill customer expectations in terms of quality and speed of last-mile delivery services. The significant demand for fast delivery is often paired with higher rates of damaged and delayed deliveries than expected. While big groups and marketplaces can allow themselves to reduce shipping margins thanks to different sale strategies, direct-to-consumer players are not going to absorb additional costs related to rapid delivery.
