Delivery rate
Delivery rate is the share of parcels that reached the buyer and payment was collected, out of all parcels handed to the delivery company in the same period. Its denominator is shipped parcels, not submitted orders, and it measures your delivery partner's performance and buyer intent after phone confirmation.
Also calledfulfillment ratedelivery percentagedelivery success rate
The formula
Delivery rate = (Delivered parcels ÷ Shipped parcels) × 100
- Numerator—Delivered parcels: parcels that reached the buyer and payment was collected in cash.
- Denominator—Shipped parcels: parcels that actually left for the delivery company, excluding confirmed orders that were cancelled before shipping.
- Submitted orders are not a valid denominator here: dividing delivered by submitted mixes confirmation failure with delivery failure in one number that can't be fixed.
Worked example
One shipment batch in Algeria
- 1Submitted orders: 240. Confirmed: 144.
- 24 orders cancelled before shipment → Shipped parcels: 140.
- 3Delivered and collected: 98.
- 4Correct delivery rate: 98 ÷ 140 = 0.70 → 70%.
- 5Wrong calculation from submitted: 98 ÷ 240 = 0.408 → 40.8%.
Takeaway: Both numbers are mathematically correct but measure different things: 70% judges your delivery company, 40.8% judges the entire end-to-end process from ad to door.
What it means in practice
Break out reasons for non-delivery in your report instead of lumping them together: buyer rejected at door, phone off, inaccurate address, parcel left at depot past storage deadline, severe delivery delay. Each reason needs a different fix, and a single combined number won't tell you which one to apply.
Delivery time moves this rate more than most merchants realize. A parcel that arrives in two days finds an excited buyer; one that takes a week finds someone who changed their mind or bought a substitute. Compare delivery rate by arrival time for each region.
Measure the rate separately for each region and each delivery partner. Usually one region or one partner causes most failures, so you can switch partners in those areas or raise their shipping fees, instead of judging the whole market by one average.
Common mistakes
- Mixing up the denominator: dividing delivered by submitted orders and calling it "delivery rate," making your partner look bad when the confirmation process is the problem.
- Keeping cancelled orders in the denominator, which lowers the rate because of parcels that never shipped.
- Counting a parcel as delivered just because its status changed in the system before payment is confirmed in cash.
- Measuring the rate over a short period where the delivery cycle isn't complete, which looks low because parcels are still in transit.
Questions and answers
Where do I get an accurate count of shipped parcels?
From your delivery partner's report, not your store dashboard. The report lists every tracking number that actually shipped and its final status. Your dashboard might count orders manually marked "shipping" that never actually left, inflating the denominator and tanking your rate for no real reason.
How does delivery rate affect my profit?
Direct relationship. You pay shipping and ads for every parcel shipped, but revenue only comes from delivered orders. A lower rate means spreading the same costs over fewer paid orders, which shrinks your margin even if product price doesn't change.
Does a parcel past its storage deadline count as a failure?
Yes—it was shipped but not delivered and not collected, so it's in the denominator but not the numerator. Mark it with a separate reason because the fix is different: a reminder message before the deadline expires and a follow-up call might save some before they come back.
Should I compare my rate to market benchmarks?
Benchmarks circulated in groups are misleading because denominators differ and markets and products differ. Your most useful reference is your own history: compare this month to last month, and compare your regions and partners to each other in the same period on the same product.