Measure What Matters — Key Metrics in OOH Delivery Analytics

Not all metrics are created equal. Some give you genuine pointers on burning issues and set you up for success — others work as a vanity kit.

But, given the sheer number of data points you can track when analyzing your network, it’s difficult to cut through the noise and focus on key KPIs. 

So in this piece, we look at key metrics you should track as you build, manage, and scale your OOH network. 

• Utilization rate
• Uncollected parcels
• Parcel dwell time
• Time before delivery
• Delivery and collection by day of the week
• Delivery and collection by hour
• Returns

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Utilization rate

Utilization rate is the ratio of the number of parcels delivered to the locker and the total capacity of the parcel locker. 

If you want to measure this figure for a single day, you can use the formula above; in case you want to track it across multiple days, you can look at the median for the period you observe.

Why it matters

Simply put, the utilization rate shows whether your OOH location delivers on its main goal — is it used or not? Knowing this helps you lay a solid foundation and prepare for sustainable network growth.

What sometimes happens is that delivery companies double down on expanding the network, before looking into just how much the existing infrastructure is used. This could lead to many underutilized locations and increase your network costs. 

According to Last Mile Experts, automated parcel machines (APMs) become profitable at around 50% utilization, so you can use this figure as a rule of thumb when setting the target for your utilization rate.

So, before you head out adding locations to your network, first make sure you assess the utilization of the infrastructure you currently have in place.  

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Uncollected parcels

Uncollected parcels can clog your day-to-day operations pretty fast. A high percentage of uncollected parcels decreases the utilization rate of each of your OOH points and drives the costs that come from re-delivery. All of this negatively impacts the business, so it’s important to analyze what’s driving a high number of uncollected parcels.

Why it matters

While no OOH team likes uncollected parcels, they are a great starting point for analyzing what you need to improve in your network.

One of the main reasons behind parcels being left behind is the inconvenient pickup location — if a parcel locker or PUDO is too far from the recipient’s home or in an area with limited parking, difficult access, or limited public transport, they might be more likely to delay or postpone picking up their packages.

Another reason for postponed pickup is the limited working hours of lockers and OOH points, which might coincide with the recipient’s working hours, and so make it hard to pick up parcels on time. 

Finally, it may be a lack of communication or an overly complicated retrieval process that discourages the recipient from picking up their parcel sooner rather than later. Consider, for instance, whether your recipients have clear information on arrival, location, and collection deadline.

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Parcel dwell time

Parcel dwell time refers to the time a parcel spends in a locker or PUDO point before it gets collected. For parcel lockers, shorter dwell times indicate that they can be filled more often, which helps increase the utilization rate. 

Why it matters

Dwell times can vary depending on the type of OOH point and network, location, and network density. As a rule of thumb, PUDOs have longer dwell times compared to parcel lockers — according to a Mondial Relay report, the dwell time for parcel lockers is 67% lower than for PUDOs. On average, it takes around 7 hours to collect parcels from lockers and 22 hours to collect them from PUDO points. 

For example, you can gain good insights by looking into your OOH points relative to their location — are they shorter in urban areas or along the commute path?

On the other hand, Swipbox's parcel locker networks had collection times ranging from 12 to 24 hours in 2021. A third of parcels were collected within the first 5 hours, with recipients in urban areas collecting parcels 3-6 hours faster than average.

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Time before delivery

Time before delivery refers to the time it takes for a courier to pick up a package and make it available for collection. And because you can’t necessarily control how quickly recipients collect the parcel, you can influence what happens before it reaches a PUDO point or locker. 

This is why Time before delivery should be among your top reporting priorities — it gives you a way to see how you’re doing when it comes to a factor you can impact more directly. After all, the quicker and smoother you can ensure the parcel delivery, the easier it will be to delight your customers.

Why it matters

The metric shows if parcels are delivered promptly and efficiently, which can help you improve operational efficiency and customer satisfaction.

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Delivery and collection by day of the week

Another metric that’s slightly more under your control is the delivery and collection by day of the week. The distribution of deliveries to parcel lockers by days of the week can be especially helpful in organizing your work and scheduling deliveries.

You can also adjust this metric for seasonal impact — it’s likely that more parcels need to be delivered during a particular time of the year. This will allow you to allocate enough vehicles and staff and plan and optimize their route, factoring in the weekly/monthly/seasonal demand — and do all of this well in advance by looking into historical data.

Why it matters

Operational efficiency is just one part of the puzzle, though. 

Through this metric, you can also get valuable insights into recipient preferences. For example, do they prefer collecting parcels during workdays or weekends? And how does this differ from one location to the other? Are there locations that are much better utilized than others when it comes to delivery and collection on a weekly basis?

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Delivery and collection by hour

Combining the hourly distribution of delivery and collection times with the capacity of parcel lockers makes it easier to spot idle periods. 

Why it matters

Similar to the previous metric, you can also look for patterns in delivery and collection and cross-reference them with the capacity, to get a deeper understanding of the delivery and collection dynamics throughout the day.

This helps you plan and prepare routes and prioritize some locations over others — in line with customer preferences (based on collection) and availability of your staff (for example, there might be an OOH point in your network that would let your couriers make one delivery to serve many prompt collections). 

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Returns

Returns have been a complex matter in delivery, and couriers, posts, and e-commerce companies have been looking for ways to drive down the costs of managing them. 

With an OOH delivery point in an open network, a courier could collect all the parcels due for return at a single place, instead of having to tend to individual addresses across the city. This would make it more efficient and drive operational costs down. 

And so, tracking and understanding returns across your network brings you insights into customer behavior and the efficiency of the OOH network.

Why it matters

Companies can identify patterns and trends in the items being returned and the reasons behind them. This information can be used to improve the overall customer experience and reduce the number of returns in the future.

Looking to optimize and grow your network? With Mily Tech, you can easily have all these metrics — and more — tracked for you, with real-time insight into all parts and your entire OOH network.