Delivery Isn't a Cost Centre Anymore, It's Your Competitive Edge

By Rob Hango-Zada, Co-Founder and Co-CEO of Shippit

Photo credit: Adobe Stock

Amazon didn't just change how fast things arrive. They changed what customers expect delivery to mean. And now every Australian retailer is dealing with the fallout.

This isn't about matching Amazon's prices. It's about matching the experience they've normalised: same-day delivery, pinpoint accuracy, real-time tracking and sustainability credentials that actually matter. According to Shippit's State of Shipping report, 71.4% of carriers say same-day delivery is now the biggest shift in customer expectations. The rest, precise windows, live tracking and green options, are close behind.

The stakes are higher than most carriers realise. Delivery used to be a back-end operation, a necessary cost of doing business. Now it's a front-line brand experience. When delivery fails, customers don't just blame the carrier, they blame the retailer. Research from Shippit and Jarden found 64% of shoppers won't return to a brand after one poor delivery experience. One strike and you're out.

That means carriers aren't just service providers anymore. They're reputation managers. Their network performance doesn't just affect their own business; it directly shapes retailer success and customer retention. The pressure is real, and it's only increasing.

What Retailers are Actually Investing in

If you want to know where carriers need to focus, look at where retailers are putting their money. In 2025, 20.7% of retailers made supply chain optimisation (covering fulfilment and delivery) their top investment priority. That's a massive jump from 2024, when it ranked fourth.

The message is clear: delivery isn't an afterthought anymore. It's central to customer experience, acquisition and retention.

Retailers are also betting big on AI and automation (16%) and real-time data analysis (16%). Together, these investments signal a fundamental shift away from gut-feel decision making towards insight-driven strategy. Other focus areas include inventory accuracy, omnichannel capabilities and unified commerce platforms.

For carriers, the implication is straightforward: your network needs to be flexible, data-rich and smart enough to support modern fulfilment models. That's why 57.1% of carriers are now investing in AI-powered route optimisation software. They're not just reacting, they're rebuilding.

Beyond Routing: The Case for AI-Powered Orchestration

Route optimisation is useful. Orchestration is transformative. Global logistics leaders have been using AI for years to stay ahead. Now Australian carriers have access to the same capabilities—tools that don't just find the fastest route but dynamically adapt to real-world chaos. Weather disruptions. Last-minute priority changes. AI-powered orchestration handles all of it in real time, accounting for vehicle type, capacity, delivery windows and customer priorities simultaneously. The result? Networks that don't just move faster, but smarter. They're more resilient, more reliable and more responsive to what customers actually need.

This is what next-generation logistics looks like in practice: AI-assisted dispatch, real-time customer tracking, and advanced algorithms working together to maximise fleet efficiency. Delivery stops being a cost centre and starts being a growth engine.

As delivery networks get denser and more localised, orchestration becomes the foundation of local commerce. Carriers who invest in scalable, AI-powered operations now will be the ones who can actually deliver on tomorrow's expectations.

What Future-Ready Looks Like

Being future-ready in transport comes down to three things: the flexibility to adapt, the intelligence to forecast and the resilience to deliver under pressure. As consumer expectations accelerate and global players keep raising the bar, orchestration, not just operation, will separate the survivors from the leaders.

AI will be at the centre of this shift. By forecasting challenges, orchestrating complexity, and enabling delivery that's consistently precise and transparent, AI gives both carriers and retailers the power to keep their promises to customers. Carriers need to audit their current processes and infrastructure, then explore what emerging technologies can actually do for them. The options are out there. The question is whether you're evaluating them seriously and aligning them with what your business actually needs to stay competitive.

In a market where one bad delivery can cost you a customer for life, reliability isn't nice to have, it's everything. The carriers who embrace AI-powered orchestration now won't just survive the shift to 2026 and beyond. They'll define it.

To read Shippit’s 2025 State of Shipping Report, visit https://www.shippit.com/state-of-shipping-report