As consumer expectations rise and volatility persists, retail and e-commerce brands must rethink how they select last-mile partners, balancing speed, cost, data and reliability. Reliability has replaced speed as the primary metric. As e-commerce's once-frenetic pandemic growth normalizes to pre-pandemic levels, the defining characteristics of good delivery have shifted. Recent McKinsey research shows that by 2024, speed has dropped to 5th place among shopper priorities—down from first place in 2022—falling behind cost, flexibility and reliability. From a supply chain perspective, UniUni operates a last-mile delivery network focused on Asian e-commerce (Shein, Temu, TikTok Shop) in the U.S. and Canada markets, competing against FedEx, UPS, USPS, OnTrac and LaserShip.
Joshua Haun, vice president of business development at UniUni, says, "Reliability has quietly become the new speed." "Most leaders prefer to offer a clear, honest 2-4 day delivery window rather than promise 1-2 days and miss half the time. Shoppers forgive slightly longer transit times; they don't forgive inconsistency." For brands, no matter how aggressive the original shipping promise, missed and unreliable deliveries result in significant decline. Missed SLAs and downstream exceptions not only disappoint shoppers but disrupt forecasting, inflate costs and quietly erode brand reliability. From a supply chain perspective, the last-mile space is e-commerce's core operational challenge, with parcel volume now exceeding 23 billion packages annually in the U.S. over the past few years. The Pitney Bowes Parcel Shipping Index tracks year-over-year shifts in total market share among USPS, UPS and FedEx.
Rate transparency matters more than the lowest price. E-commerce brands often operate on thin margins easily eroded by unexpected shipping cost increases. Unpredictable surcharges—from peak and fuel fees to residential or oversized package charges—create risk for brands. As surcharges change each season or with fuel prices, they further squeeze already slim margins. From a supply chain perspective, the transparent presentation of parcel pricing components including dimensional weight (DIM) calculations, fuel surcharge, residential delivery surcharge, peak season surcharge, oversize fee, address correction fee and declared value is the problem that parcel auditing firms (71lbs, ShipMatrix, Reveel, Refund Retriever) are solving. GRI (General Rate Increase) is implemented 6-8 times annually by major carriers and typically ranges from 5-7 percent.
From a supply chain perspective, UniUni, founded by Peter Lu in Vancouver in 2019 and entering the U.S. market in 2021, competes with Veho, Roadie, DoorDash Drive and Uber Connect with its gig economy-based last-mile driver network model. A multi-carrier strategy has become essential for modern e-commerce brands: it requires routing intelligence across regional carriers (UniUni, OnTrac, Pitney Bowes, X Delivery), USPS Priority Mail, UPS SurePost, FedEx SmartPost and gig delivery providers. EDI 214, EDI 990, API, tracking event, POD (Proof of Delivery), signature capture, address validation and geocoding are the operational foundations of data integrity. In sum, UniUni's last-mile checklist redefines modern carrier selection criteria for e-commerce brands.
Key Takeaways:
1. Reliability has replaced speed as the primary metric.
2. McKinsey 2024 research shows speed falling to 5th position.
3. Joshua Haun speaks as UniUni VP Business Development.
4. Rate transparency is critical for thin-margin e-commerce.
5. Missed SLAs disrupt forecasting/cost/brand reliability.
