Shipping? Delivery? You hear these two terms all the time, especially if you do a lot of online shopping on sites like Amazon, or are starting your own e-commerce business. Whenever you send or receive something through your local postal service or shipping companies like FedEx or UPS, the package goes through shipping and delivery processes. So it might seem these two terms are interchangeable. But they are different — and in this article we’ll explain exactly how.
Shipping vs delivery: Two ends of the same chain
Basically, shipping is the process around sending an item; delivery is the process around receiving it. If you believe some posters on sites like Quora it can get confusing, with claims that “shipping” refers only to small items — but anybody who uses the terms this way is definitely in the minority!
Let’s unpack the differences between shipping and delivery in a bit more detail.
What is shipping?
Shipping refers to the first stages of getting items ordered by online shoppers from their origin (the seller) to their destination (the customer).
Let’s say you order supplies from a retailer: The shipping process can start even before you’ve finalized your payment! If the checkout process includes the option to choose a delivery date or time, that’s part of shipping. Behind the scenes, that information will be used in planning, along with your address and other instructions.
Even if you don’t get the opportunity to choose a delivery date, the retailer will often give you an estimated shipping date when you place the order. In other words, you won’t know exactly when your package will arrive, but you will know when it leaves the shipper to start its journey.
You may also get a choice between different types of shipping, with shipping methods including:
- Next-day delivery
- Same-day delivery
- Standard delivery, which may take a few business days or more to arrive
In general, higher shipping costs = faster delivery.
After purchase is confirmed, your items are packaged up and handed over to a courier service, delivery company, or third-party logistics operator. This could be at a store, a warehouse, a fulfillment center, a post office or UPS store, or a distribution center.
Once that handover is done, your package has been shipped. Often, you will get a notification at this stage that includes tracking information so you can check on progress.
Now, the package is on the way to its final destination. Along the way it may travel by air freight, cargo ship, train, or truck; and it may pass through international borders. All of this is part of the shipping process. There can be lots of paperwork and complexity involved, especially for cross-border shipments. This is where the expertise of third party logistics operators, carriers, and freight forwarding agents is really important. If all goes well, you will never have any idea what goes on behind the scenes!
Once the package has arrived at its destination warehouse or distribution center, the delivery process starts.
What is delivery?
Delivery (also called last-mile delivery) is the final stage in the supply chain, when a shipped item arrives at its final destination.
The delivery process starts at a local warehouse or distribution center where the final delivery is scheduled, ideally using route optimization software like Routific to make the process more efficient. Then the package is loaded onto a delivery vehicle (which could be a truck, van, bike, scooter, or even a drone!)
At this stage you’ll probably get an “out for delivery” notification. This means your package has entered the final stage of the shipping process and is en route to your door.
If you chose a delivery time window (a specific delivery date and time) at checkout, your notification should confirm this as well.
When the item is delivered, the delivery service will usually provide some kind of proof of delivery. They might take a picture of the package on your doorstep, or ask you to sign.
If there’s a problem, you may get a notification about a “delivery exception”. These delivery failures can happen for external reasons like bad weather or road conditions, if the driver couldn’t find the address, or if nobody was there to give access to the property for safe delivery.
Special kinds of shipping and delivery
1. Local delivery
Deliveries from local businesses are a special case: the supply chain is so short that the difference between shipping and delivery pretty much disappears.
Say for example we’ve ordered some groceries from Flourist, our favorite local bakery and flour mill. We’re all in the same town and Flourist employs its own delivery drivers, so there are no third parties like contractors or courier services involved. The in-store team processes our order and plans the delivery — usually for the next day. Then on the day they package everything up ready for dispatching, and a driver brings it to our doorstep.
Local delivery also applies when the supplier’s warehouse is in the same town as the customer, even if the head office is elsewhere.
When things are this simple, there’s not much to shipping — it’s all part of the delivery management process. There are still plenty of challenges involved in last i
2. Drop shipping
Drop shipping refers to a kind of e-commerce in which the seller doesn’t actually produce anything, or store any inventory. A drop shipper will typically host a website to market and sell an item, but it’s manufactured somewhere else and shipped from a central warehouse directly to the customer. This can offer some benefits, like speed and a wide selection of options. But if something goes wrong, you may struggle to get the problem fixed. Most drop shippers are small businesses who use third-party logistics providers, fulfillment services and couriers, and they don’t have much control over the process. Customer experience and quality often suffer in the process.
3. White glove delivery
White glove delivery is a value-added delivery service that’s mostly used for larger items, major appliances, or high-value items. If you’ve just bought a new stove or expensive sofa, for example, you don’t want it dropped outside your front door! Instead you’ll want a service that includes:
- Bringing the item indoors to its final location.
- Assembly, including any electrical or plumbing work that may be needed.
- Removing old appliances.
- Removing packaging.
White glove delivery may come at an extra cost, but it’s usually well worth it to get professional service and assistance.
Rene Emery is a B2B/Finance/SaaS writer who focuses on clear, concise, and optimized content. Leveraging 12+ years of experience, she relies on her work with hundreds of companies worldwide to create content that speaks to readers and makes difficult topics easy to understand.
