hl’s via Instacart can purchase at in-store prices and earn Kohl’s Rewards points as well.  In a public release, Instacart’s senior director of retail partnerships Blake Wallace said the platform is “committed to offering customers a broad selection of items and ways to get exactly what they need from the retailers they know and love.” Will Kohl’s partnership with Instacart stand out? Managing director and retail analyst at GlobalData Neil Saunders noted enabling fast delivery via Instacart will be broadly helpful to Kohl’s. “Being on the Instacart platform gives Kohl’s more visibility and might win it some new customers who want things in a hurry,” he told Inside Retail. “That said, most of the things Kohl’s sells are discretionary and are not always needed within hours, so I think this caters to something of a niche audience.” From a business perspective, he noted, it is a critical way for Kohl’s to compete with Amazon, which has been expanding its same-day shipping capabilities. “While this is positive for Kohl’s, it does not address the core issues of a lack of investment in stores, mundane ranges, and weak pricing compared to retailers like Target. Kohl’s is working on these things, but it needs to fix them if it wants to compete and win market share. In other words, it will take more than fast delivery to revive Kohl’s,” Saunders concluded. The growing importance of last-mile delivery Kohl’s partnership with Instacart reflects the growing focus on last-mile delivery in the retail industry. According to Coresight Research, investing in last-mile delivery, a term used to refer to the final leg of the e-commerce supply chain that physically connects brands with consumers through the delivery of the purchase, is more important than ever.  In a report dubbed on building customer-centric experiences, Coresight found online retail sales in the US increased by 8.4 per cent year-over-year in 2023, despite prolonged inflation and other macroeconomic factors. E-commerce penetration is also expected to rise, reaching up to 23.8 per cent.  The report also revealed that retailers offering quicker delivery options (two days or faster) correlate with a 10.5 per cent increase in conversion and an 8.9 per cent increase in repeat purchases on average. Consumers surveyed for the report said that speed and shipping price are the most important factors influencing which retailer they buy from, suggesting that finding ways to control last-mile delivery costs will be critical. To stay ahead, delivery tech vendors like Coresight “must continuously innovate and expand capabilities, such as leveraging AI for smarter routing and delivery forecasting,” Coresight’s director of research Swarooprani Muralidhar said. “These enhancements not only anticipate customer needs but also offer a significant edge in a crowded marketplace with optimizing processes and driving efficiency.” According to Coresight, brands and retailers can optimize their reverse logistics processes to reduce costs associated with returns by: Negotiating better rates with delivery partners specifically for reverse logistics to minimize the financial impact of returns. Implementing data analytics to better understand the reasons behind returns and address the root causes directly, some of which could be delivery-process related. Encouraging exchanges over returns, to safeguard revenue and potentially reduce shipping costs if the exchange item can be sent with the reverse logistics partner picking up the return. “By addressing the return process strategically, brands and retailers can not only offset the burden of delivery costs but also potentially drive customer lifetime value through an efficient returns experience,” Muralidhar emphasized.