Locus Finds Holiday Delivery Doubts Have Driven 54% of Shoppers to Abandon Online Carts

Locus introduces its new annual Holiday Delivery Confidence Index to examine consumer delivery preferences during peak season.

MILPITAS, Calif., Nov. 10, 2026 /PRNewswire/ -- Locus, a leading AI-native logistics technology company, today announced the release of the 2026 Holiday Delivery Confidence Index. Based on a survey of 1,000 U.S. consumers, the report examines what consumers value most in deliveries, how delivery affects the customer experience and brand perception and how shopping preferences shift during peak season.

The Index revealed that consumers increasingly prioritize certainty and reliability in their deliveries over speed alone during the holiday season. Many are even willing to pay more for a guaranteed delivery, with the number rising among younger generations. For retailers, the inability to guarantee a delivery date may cost them sales.

Key Findings:

• Shoppers expect fast delivery during the holidays: 52% expect holiday shipping to be as fast as or faster than the rest of the year. Generally, 69% consider delivery within three days or less appropriate for online orders.
• Most shoppers trust holiday deadlines, but few do completely: 61% mostly or completely trust retailers' "order by" holiday delivery promises, while just 18% fully trust them.
• Cost and certainty outweigh speed: When choosing where to purchase a holiday gift online, 43% prioritize the lowest total cost, 40% prioritize certainty that it will arrive by the promised date and just 8% prioritize the fastest delivery.
• Shoppers have paid extra for delivery certainty: During the most recent holiday season, 37% paid extra for a delivery option promising arrival by a specific date. That figure includes 52% of Gen Z and 51% of millennials.
• Delivery uncertainty drives cart abandonment: 54% of consumers abandoned an online cart in the past 12 months because they were unsure whether the order would arrive when needed, while 80% said a specific promised delivery date would make them more likely to complete an online holiday purchase.
• Shoppers want more control after checkout: 35% expect to switch a holiday order from home delivery to a store or pickup location without contacting customer support. Another 34% expect to be able to reschedule the delivery date.

The Challenges Facing Retailers This Peak Season
U.S. holiday retail sales are expected to rise to $1.013 trillion in November and December according to the NRF. While this expected increase in consumer spending is good news for retailers, it comes during an especially challenging peak season. Retailers are facing steep diesel costs, tariff uncertainty and supply chain disruptions, with additional holiday surcharges helping push FedEx and UPS delivery prices toward projected record highs in Q4.

Despite this environment, consumers still expect brands to deliver. More than half expect holiday shipping to be as fast as or faster than the rest of the year. In order to win shoppers' business, retailers will need to keep costs competitive while responding quickly when disruptions threaten delivery commitments.

"While holiday sales are expected to rise over 2025, delivery networks are facing new pressures on several fronts and consumer expectations remain high," said Nishith Rastogi, founder and CETO of Locus. "To win shoppers' business and loyalty this season, retailers are going to need real-time visibility across their entire delivery networks and systems that can immediately adapt as conditions change without always waiting for manual intervention."

What Does the Holiday Delivery Confidence Index Mean for Retailers This Peak Season?
Retailers need to recognize that purchasing decisions depend on more than product or price. Delivery reliability is now a top factor, and consumers are willing to shop elsewhere or abandon a purchase altogether if they can't be certain an order will arrive on time.

While shoppers still rank total cost as their top consideration overall when buying holiday gifts online, the survey also found that a specific promised delivery date would make shoppers more likely to complete a purchase. Many also paid extra for that certainty during the previous holiday season. This suggests retailers have room to offer paid delivery options alongside lower-cost choices, provided they can deliver on the added certainty.

"Shoppers are telling retailers that price matters, but so does knowing their gifts will arrive on time," said Rastogi. "For retailers, the opportunity starts at checkout, where delivery options need to reflect what their networks can realistically fulfill. Connecting checkout with real-time logistics data helps retailers offer dates shoppers can rely on and puts them in a stronger position to win business this peak season."

To access the full findings and learn more about Locus, visit: 2026 U.S. Holiday Delivery Confidence Index.

Frequently Asked Questions:

What is the Locus Holiday Delivery Confidence Index?
The 2026 Holiday Delivery Confidence Index is based on a survey of 1,000 U.S. consumers examining holiday shipping expectations, trust in retailers' delivery deadlines and how delivery certainty influences purchasing decisions. The inaugural index establishes benchmarks for tracking consumer confidence in future surveys.

How can retailers turn shoppers' demand for delivery certainty into sales?
Retailers should offer clear arrival dates before checkout and give shoppers a choice between lower-cost delivery and paid options for a specific date or time window. Those choices should reflect actual capacity across the delivery network, with pricing that accounts for the cost of providing each service.

Beyond the core findings above, what else did the survey uncover?
We also explored how consumers split their holiday shopping between online and physical stores, finding that shopping across both channels remains common, even among younger generations. The survey also asked what shoppers would do if an order looked unlikely to arrive when needed. Some would wait or try to speed up delivery. Others would cancel and buy locally or order a replacement from another online retailer.

How should retailers respond when a holiday delivery is at risk?
Retailers should notify shoppers early, explain the available options and make it easy for shoppers to decide. Depending on the order, that could mean changing the delivery date, switching to in-store pickup or canceling their order. Shoppers should have enough time and information to decide what works for them.

About Locus
Locus, part of Ingka Group, is an agentic Transportation Management System (TMS) for all-mile, all-channel with 350+ enterprise customer deployments in 30+ countries across North America, Europe and Asia Pacific. The platform unifies orders, capacity and carrier networks into one living plan, aligning planning, execution and settlement, solving for real-world logistics constraints and complexities for large enterprises. Locus has optimized 1.5B + deliveries, helped achieve $320M+ in logistics cost savings and avoided 17M+ kg of emissions for its customers. Learn more at locus.sh.

Media Contact
PANBlast for Locus
[email protected] 

SOURCE Locus