With the growth of e-commerce, the purchasing journey has evolved significantly. Today, the customer experience is no longer limited to discovering a product, browsing a website, or placing an order. It extends all the way to the moment the parcel is received.

Delivery therefore plays an increasingly important role in the relationship between businesses and their customers. Delivery times, costs, tracking, flexibility, and ease of receipt have all become factors that shape how customers perceive a brand.

For businesses, the challenge is no longer to view delivery simply as an operational step that takes place after a sale, but rather as an integral part of the overall customer experience.

The Delivery Experience Begins Before the Parcel Is Received

The delivery experience begins long before the parcel reaches its recipient.

When completing a purchase, customers already want to know how their order will be delivered: How much will it cost? How long will it take? How can the parcel be tracked? Where can it be collected?

This information can influence the purchasing decision.

A seamless experience therefore depends on consistency between the product being offered, the ordering process, and the delivery conditions. When these elements are clear and coherent, customers know what to expect.

Conversely, unexpected costs, insufficient information, or delivery times that are difficult to anticipate can create hesitation at the point of purchase.

Cost and Delivery Time: Two Factors That Matter

The price of a product is not the only factor considered by consumers when shopping online. Delivery costs and the promised delivery time can also influence their decision.

According to the Baymard Institute, 40% of analyzed cart abandonments are associated with additional costs perceived as too high, while 20% are related to delivery being too slow (Baymard Institute, n.d.).

These figures show that delivery already plays a role in the customer experience well before the parcel is received.

For businesses, clearly communicating delivery conditions helps prevent unpleasant surprises and ensures that delivery is considered as part of the purchasing journey from the outset.

The objective is therefore not simply to offer fast delivery, but to provide a delivery solution whose terms and conditions meet customer expectations.

Tracking: Giving Customers Visibility

Once an order has been placed, another expectation emerges: knowing where the parcel is.

Tracking addresses a fundamental need: visibility throughout the delivery process.

Between the moment an order is confirmed and the moment it reaches its recipient, several stages may take place. Being able to monitor the progress of an order helps customers understand what is happening and reduces uncertainty while they wait.

The Universal Postal Union also highlights the changing expectations surrounding e-commerce, particularly regarding the quality of postal services and their ability to meet evolving consumer needs (Universal Postal Union, 2025a).

Tracking is therefore much more than a technical feature. It contributes to the quality of information provided to customers and can also make it easier for customer service teams to respond to inquiries.

Transparency as a Driver of Trust

In a traditional purchase, consumers can see the product, interact with a salesperson, and leave with their purchase immediately.

In e-commerce, a period of waiting separates the purchase from the moment the product is received.

This makes communication particularly important.

Clear information about the order status, delivery progress, and available delivery options helps customers understand what is happening after their purchase.

Transparency therefore becomes an essential element of the customer relationship.

It can take several forms:

• clearly stated delivery conditions;
• easy-to-understand delivery timeframes;
• accessible tracking services;
• regularly updated information;
• clearly defined delivery or collection options;
• appropriate communication in the event of an incident or delay.

The goal is not to eliminate waiting altogether, but to make the waiting period more predictable and easier to understand.

Good Delivery Is About More Than Speed

Speed is often associated with a positive delivery experience. However, it is only one factor among many.

Customers may also value flexibility: being able to choose a delivery option that fits their daily routine, having access to a collection point, or receiving enough information to organize the receipt of their parcel.

The Universal Postal Union notably emphasizes the need for postal services to evolve in order to better address the needs of e-commerce and changing consumer expectations (Universal Postal Union, 2025b).

Delivery performance should therefore not be measured by speed alone.

It should also be assessed in terms of how predictable, accessible, transparent, and adapted to the recipient’s needs the delivery experience is.

When Logistics Becomes a Customer Loyalty Issue

Businesses invest in their products, brand identity, communication, and customer service to create a consistent experience.

Delivery should be part of that same approach.

A customer who receives an order under satisfactory conditions does not remember the product alone. They also retain an overall impression of the journey: how easy it was to place the order, the information they received, the tracking experience, the delivery itself, and, where applicable, the handling of returns.

Delivery therefore becomes another point of contact between a brand and its customers.

Conversely, a complicated delivery experience can affect the overall perception of a purchase, even when the product itself meets expectations.

For businesses, this means that logistics is not simply an operational function. It also contributes to the quality of the relationship they build with their customers.

The Delivery Experience: A Key Challenge for Businesses in Algeria

For businesses operating online, managing orders no longer ends with making a sale.

They need to prepare parcels, organize shipments, track deliveries, keep customers informed, and manage the different stages leading up to receipt.

Logistics has therefore become an important part of commercial operations.

This applies not only to established businesses, but also to retailers, entrepreneurs, and e-commerce players developing their activities through digital platforms and social media.

As purchasing habits continue to evolve, the ability to provide a clear and well-structured delivery experience is becoming an increasingly important part of the customer journey.

EMS Champion Post Algérie: A Partner in the Customer Experience

In this evolving environment, EMS Champion Post Algérie supports individuals and businesses with their shipping needs, both in Algeria and internationally.

Through its shipping and tracking solutions, the company helps maintain continuity between businesses, their parcels, and their recipients.

For businesses, this becomes particularly relevant as e-commerce continues to develop. The ability to manage shipments and track their progress makes it possible to integrate logistics more effectively into the overall customer journey.

With myEMS, business customers also have access to a dedicated solution for managing their shipments online, helping simplify different stages of the shipping process.

This reflects a simple shift in the way businesses approach online commerce: selling a product is no longer the only objective. Businesses must also ensure a consistent journey all the way through to delivery.

It is within this framework that EMS Champion Post Algérie plays its role: supporting businesses with their shipping needs and contributing to a more structured, transparent, and seamless delivery experience that meets the demands of today’s e-commerce environment.

Conclusion

Delivery is often viewed as the final step of a purchase.

Yet it represents much more than that: it is one of the final points of contact between a business and its customer.

From the choice of delivery conditions to shipment tracking and the final receipt of the parcel, every stage contributes to the overall customer experience.

As e-commerce continues to transform consumer habits, businesses should therefore consider delivery as an integral part of their customer relationship.

Because the customer journey does not end when an order is placed.

It ends when the customer receives what they ordered.

References

Baymard Institute. (n.d.). Cart abandonment rate statistics.

Baymard Institute. (n.d.). How to reduce cart abandonment.

Universal Postal Union. (2025a, July). UPU Congress set to revolutionize postal quality.

Universal Postal Union. (2025b, July). Getting the basics right: Delivering fit-for-purpose postal products.

Universal Postal Union. (2025). Development of physical postal services to better reflect e-commerce customer needs.