Capacity, reliability and cost containment are the most important factors in successful e-commerce delivery, says Rob Glover, vice president of sales at OSM Worldwide.

Carriers must have the capacity to deliver as promised because customers want to know when their packages are going to be delivered. “It's not so much that they want it as fast as possible,” Glover says. “They just want to make sure that they know when it's going to be there. And as a brand, you want to make sure that you adhere to the delivery promise made.”

Even the best networks are stressed during peak season, Glover says. Carriers that don’t have the ability to “flex up and handle a peak season surge” won’t be reliable, he says. “We've seen in prior years where that's been a challenge for a lot of people.”

Cost, of course, is top of mind for both shippers and carriers. “The new norm is peak-season surcharges. So, you must make sure that the carrier you want to use is a good fit but also make sure you're not going to break the bank trying to get all those packages delivered.”

Glover says a multi-carrier strategy is probably the best bet as he expects the volume of packages to top last year’s.

“Peak” doesn’t just mean Thanksgiving to Christmas anymore, Glover says. Throughout the year, there can be several peaks. “A lot of times now we're seeing a brand-induced peak season, like a flash sale or a ‘Prime’ day where a brand will come up with an idea that will significantly spike their volume in a short window of time. It can be a challenge to make sure that your delivery partners are capable of handling that peak, just like they are during the holiday season. So definitely, we're seeing multiple mini-peaks throughout the year.”