📄 Abstract
The swift transformation of the Indian e-commerce and quick-commerce markets has essentially altered the level of consumer expectations, with the speed of last-mile delivery becoming a key competitive differentiator. The proposed research will examine how ultra-fast delivery and logistical consistency can promote long-term brand loyalty among the consumers of Generation Z in urban India. Using a descriptive and analytical research design, primary data was gathered using a structured questionnaire on a sample of 350 Gen Z shoppers. The data were discussed in terms of the descriptive statistics, Pearson correlation, and multiple regression analysis. The results indicate that there exists a very significant positive correlation between consistent and fast delivery and brand loyalty. Regression analysis results show that delivery measures, namely the anticipation of reduced delivery time and on time delivery consistency, explain a significant 92.8% of the variation in customer retention (p < 0.001), and the null hypothesis is thus conclusively rejected. It is important to note that although consumers are so satisfied when the deliveries take longer than expected, they are not willing to pay premium prices to receive deliveries faster than expected and show no significant correlation with long-term loyalty. The research finds that in the case of the digitally native generation Z, ultra-fast delivery has ceased to be a premium luxury to be a baseline operational requirement. To achieve long-term sustainable affective commitment, Indian e-commerce portals need to streamline their supply chains to provide unmatched speed and reliability as a standard service, beyond sporadic convenience driven purchases to create real brand loyalty.
🏷️ Keywords
📚 How to Cite:
Somshekhar Bochare , IMPACT OF LAST-MILE DELIVERY SPEED ON BRAND LOYALTY AMONG GENERATION Z CONSUMERS IN INDIAN E-COMMERCE , Volume 12 , Issue 7, July 2026, EPRA International Journal of Multidisciplinary Research (IJMR) , Pages: 221 - 230 , DOI: https://doi.org/10.36713/epra30879