Timeliness — Logistics

What it measures

Timeliness in a logistics service context captures customers' perceptions of the speed and reliability of order delivery, encompassing the overall cycle time from order placement to receipt, on-time arrival relative to promised delivery dates, and the duration of back-order delays. Recognised across the logistics literature as a foundational dimension of physical distribution service quality, timeliness in the LSQ process model is positioned as an integrating outcome of both upstream order-placement activities and order-receipt quality, and as a proximal antecedent of customer satisfaction.

Representative items

• Time between placing requisition and receiving delivery is short.
• Deliveries arrive on the date promised.
• The amount of time a requisition is on back-order is short.

Citation

Mentzer, J. T., Flint, D. J., & Hult, G. T. M. (2001). Logistics service quality as a segment-customized process. Journal of Marketing, 65(4), 82–104.