A logistics term referring to the final delivery segment from a distribution hub (delivery center or depot) to the end destination (consumer's home or office). Said to account for approximately 50% of total delivery costs, improving its efficiency and quality has become an industry-wide challenge as EC continues to grow.
Challenges of Last-Mile Delivery and the Current State of Logistics
Last-mile delivery is the most costly and least efficient segment of the logistics process. While trunk-line transportation (bulk shipping between warehouses) can carry hundreds of packages in a single truck, last-mile delivery requires individual deliveries to separate addresses, causing per-package delivery costs to spike. In Japan, parcel delivery volume reached approximately 5 billion packages in 2023, increasing year over year alongside EC growth.
The biggest challenge is the redelivery problem. According to a Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism survey, approximately 11% of parcel deliveries result in redelivery attempts, generating losses equivalent to roughly 60,000 tons of CO2 emissions and 90,000 workers' worth of labor annually. With the "2024 problem" (stricter overtime regulations for truck drivers) further exacerbating the labor shortage, reducing redeliveries has gained attention as a societal issue.
Improving Last-Mile Efficiency and How Consumers Can Help
The logistics industry is accelerating efforts to improve last-mile efficiency. Unattended delivery (leaving packages at the front door or in delivery lockers) has rapidly gained adoption as a means to significantly reduce redeliveries, and Amazon has made unattended delivery the default setting. The expansion of pickup points such as convenience store pickup and PUDO (parcel lockers) is also progressing, giving consumers more options to receive packages at their convenience.
As a consumer, the basic way to help improve last-mile delivery efficiency is to actively use delivery time slot selection and choose a time when you can reliably be home. If your environment allows for unattended delivery, selecting that option reduces redelivery attempts and eases the burden on delivery drivers. When ordering from multiple EC sites around the same time, consolidating purchases and aligning delivery dates to reduce the total number of deliveries is also an effective approach.
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