One-Day vs. Two-Day Delivery:
What Customers Expect Most

In today’s digital era, just two clicks can bring anything you want from every corner of the world. If you wish to buy a new yoga mat or an air fryer, everything is just a click away from reaching your doorstep. Do you want to know what stresses out customers now? It’s not the product’s safety anymore, but the speed.

Customers expect to receive their products right after they hit the “confirm order” button. But that’s not possible, so they expect one day delivery. We have worked with more than 500 e-commerce businesses, which makes us realize that one key trend can boost your brand value, which is fast delivery.

Delivering your brand promise and meeting the expectations of customers are the first considerations because a late-arriving product is better than a damaged one. So, two day shipping is another option for the brand, which is better than late delivery.

One day shipping is the new gold standard for online buyers. When a customer sees single-day delivery written on the brand’s site, it automatically signals brand reliability in their minds. But does this shipping method really benefit companies or not? With our experience of testing on 500+ clients’ websites, we believe that one-day delivery can boost the average by 17% in checkout completion.

We have analyzed that this service is most effective for products used in everyday life. In one of our cases, a regional furniture brand was struggling with high return rates of 20% due to unmet delivery promises. After connecting with us, we optimized their inventory to a localized fulfillment model. By imposing a day courier service, they succeeded in reducing the return rate to 93%.

Brands that prefer balancing cost and speed often select two-day shipping. This method still holds major value as it offers a solid middle ground for both consumers and sellers. For instance, a national electronics brand we worked with cut its two day shipping cost by 42% through zone-based fulfillment and carrier optimization without sacrificing delivery timeframes.

The main difference that matters is the reduced shipping cost, especially when you're shipping 1000+ packages on a daily basis. According to our research on consumer behavior, 67% of the consumers are ready to pick two-day delivery if it says free delivery. So this can also impress customers even when the price point is lower.

Speed does matter, but what matters most is accuracy and quality. Suppose a fashion retailer promises one-day delivery during the Black Friday sale. However, due to the overload of orders, they broke down the whole results of their orders, impeding the support tickets. So here’s the lesson learned:

Under promise and over-deliver> over-promising and under-delivering

In simple words, once you have built the brand trust, one or two days of shipping do not matter the most among consumers. These statistics will justify that being fast matters, but trust is also the priority:

Brands need to understand that delivery is not just a part of logistics but a promise that has to be fulfilled to gain positive reviews. A skincare brand primed for one-day delivery, but due to unclear messaging, they got negative reviews, and eventually, repeat purchases lagged.

We offered them segmented shipping options to set two day delivery by default and only mark one-day shipping for a few items, possibly. This helped them drop the negative review by a surprising percentage of 41. Here’s the quick comparison of one day vs today's delivery, helping you make informed decisions:

At Calcurates, we have dealt with global brands needing to balance their speed, cost, and capacity. Based on their experience and results, we have compiled the five best ways to make the right delivery call for your brand:

Analyzing the geographical distribution of the target audience is one of the important aspects. With our Shipping Zone feature, you can use geo attributes such as state, city, and postal addresses to define the shipping areas.

Delivery time may be affected by the type of products you sell. We at Calcurates have listed shipping rules and restrictions that will help you configure shipping methods based on your particular product type, weight, and other important components.

For instance, a health and wellness company contacted us to tailor their shipping methods. We use the targeted method according to the product type, such as protein powders that are often needed quickly, which were assigned one day courier service, and on the other hand, yoga mats were allocated two-day shipping because of being bulky and non-urgent.

Multiple shipping options can enhance the shopping experience of customers. We helped Killshot Cornhole, a US-based sports equipment manufacturer, to put appropriate shipping rates in their Shopify store. They created a tiered shipping structure, thus providing flexible options to customers. This function enables merchants to offer customers choices such as

Let’s get straight to the fact that your brand's shipping is as important as the quality of your product. So, staying competitive, efficient, and fast is not an option but a necessity to build a successful brand. We help you compare shipping methods in real time. How does this feature work?

High-quality delivery requires transparency. Whether offering a one day delivery service or two-day shipping, customers should know exactly when to expect their order. Our estimated delivery day feature provides accurate dates based on the customer’s address and warehouse location, making deliveries more trustworthy and visible.

Just as the small t-shirt cannot fit all body types, brands also have to vary to serve people with diverse needs. It also depends on the industry you are operating in. We help you replicate or optimize your delivery services by enabling customization with precision. Here are some examples for you:

Some customers prefer to buy everyday clothing online to save time. It’s okay to set two-day delivery for regular apparel accessories, but if you have gift items or flash sales, then one-day delivery is the most expected. Here’s our feature in action:

Conduct is driven by the urgency in the electric market. Suppose a customer has ordered a charger cable; it should be delivered in one day because he might not have a backup, and his phone needs to be charged. We helped a client in the electric industry to split shipping with express and standard items. This helps them to save 27% on logistics costs.

If the expectations of your clients are clear, then setting two-day shipping is fine. But if your beauty brand deals with subscriptions and during new launches, one-day delivery can help you build more trust and boost sales with clear timelines. You can avail yourself of the following feature in this case:

When choosing the delivery time for your brand, the question doesn't lie in which one is faster, but smarter. You need to be a bit smarter to streamline your delivery operation efficiency. Two day shipping cost may be lower, but one day can lead to higher brand sales.

With Calcurates, you can have control over the delivery promise. You do not have to get confused about one or two days, as we offer both intelligently. Explore our knowledge base now and make your strategy faster and smarter!