Influence of Last-Mile Delivery Strategies on the Performance of E-Commerce Companies in Nairobi County, Kenya

Abstract

Last-mile delivery has become a decisive determinant of performance as e-commerce grows in Nairobi County, Kenya. Challenges related to delivery performance, delivery coverage capacity, flexible delivery services and parcel tracking systems continue to influence delivery costs, delivery timeliness and order fulfilment across e-commerce platforms. This study sought to establish the influence of last-mile delivery strategies on the performance of e-commerce companies in Nairobi County, where performance was narrowed to operational cost efficiency, delivery timeliness and order fulfilment rate. The specific objectives were to determine the influence of delivery performance strategy, delivery coverage capacity strategy, flexible parcel delivery services strategy and parcel tracking systems on performance. The study was underpinned by the service quality model, transaction cost theory and expectation confirmation theory. A descriptive cross-sectional survey design was adopted, with a census of all 61 e-commerce companies licensed in Nairobi County. Three respondents were targeted from every company, namely the operations manager, the delivery coordinator and the customer service manager, giving a total of 183 respondents, of whom 151 (82.5%) responded. A structured questionnaire with five-point Likert-type items was used to collect data. A pilot study was undertaken before the main survey in order to establish the reliability and validity of the instrument: internal consistency was tested using Cronbach’s alpha, and all constructs exceeded the 0.70 threshold (0.713 to 0.813), while content validity was established through expert review by the supervisors and logistics practitioners. Data were analysed using descriptive statistics (means and standard deviations) and inferential statistics (Pearson correlation and multiple linear regression) with the aid of the Statistical Package for Social Sciences. Ethical standards, including informed consent, confidentiality and a research licence from the National Commission for Science, Technology and Innovation, were observed. The four strategies jointly explained 65.4% of the variation in performance (R² = 0.654, F = 68.851, p < 0.001), and each strategy had a positive and statistically significant influence on performance. On the basis of the standardised coefficients, delivery coverage capacity strategy had the greatest influence (β = 0.297), followed by parcel tracking systems (β = 0.278), flexible parcel delivery services strategy (β = 0.230) and delivery performance strategy (β = 0.216). The study concluded that broader delivery networks, effective tracking technologies, flexible delivery arrangements and dependable delivery execution enhance operational cost efficiency, delivery timeliness and order fulfilment among e-commerce companies. The study recommends that the management of e-commerce companies expand delivery coverage, invest in reliable tracking technologies, widen delivery options and strengthen delivery execution, that policymakers and regulators support logistics, addressing and ICT infrastructure, and that researchers extend the model to other counties and to moderating and mediating variables.