Why Customers Want Certainty More Than Speed
Supply Chain Unchained
How customer expectations around delivery have changed, what the data actually says, and how businesses without their own fleet can still win on reliability.
Same day. Next day. Real-time updates. Free returns. The bar for delivery expectations keeps rising, and it’s being set by the Amazons of the world. But is speed really what customers want most, or is something else driving loyalty and trust?
In this episode, Greg is joined by Sam Rouse, director and co-founder of Markship, and Jamal Kanj, COO of Navia, to unpack how fulfilment expectations have shifted across both B2C and B2B, what the data is telling us, and how businesses without their own trucks, planes or ships can still compete on delivery experience.
What We Cover
- How Markship started in 2014 as a multicarrier management platform and has grown to integrate with over 500 carriers across Australia and New Zealand
- Why B2C expectations are being set by Amazon and marketplace innovation, and how that filters up to B2B
- The key distinction between B2C and B2B: speed vs data, cost efficiency and relationship management
- Australia Post research showing 70% of consumers abandon a cart if delivery is more than 2 days, and 85% say delivery reliability will be the biggest trust driver over the next 5 years
- Why certainty matters more than speed: consumers will accept a 2-day delivery window if it’s reliable over a promised 1-day that misses
- The post-purchase experience as an emerging competitive frontier, and why it is capital intensive to build but possible to access through the right partnerships
- Whether live shipment status updates actually add value, or whether accurate ETAs are enough
- How AI is changing demand planning, letting businesses overlay sales data with market signals to forecast at a SKU level
- Returns as a major and often underestimated volume in B2C, and why returns management is becoming a brand differentiator
- How non-asset operators (freight forwarders, 4PLs) can build reliability through carrier data, performance monitoring and smart partnerships
Guests
Sam Rouse
Director and Co-founder, Markship
Multicarrier freight management software, integrated with 500+ carriers across Australia and New Zealand
“85% of consumers will rank delivery reliability and speed as the highest influencer on trust over a brand in the next five years. Your brand’s trust is also in the hands of someone else.”
Jamal Kanj, COO, Navia
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