How Own Delivery Services Influence Customer Behavior and Sales in Online Retail? Building Trust and Improving Delivery Quality in Digital Economy.

This article examines the impact of online retailers offering their own delivery services (ODS)—logistics networks operated directly by the retailer—on customer behavior and sales performance, using a large dataset from JD.com, a major Chinese online retailer. Analyzing 250,055 customer transactions over 10 years across 416 cities and 49 product categories, the study finds that ODS increases customers' monthly spending by 7.8%, purchase frequency by 4.2%, and items purchased by 5.1%, while city-level sales grow by 11.9%. The effects are stronger in markets with lower trust levels, among infrequent buyers, for high-risk product categories (e.g., perishables), and for products sold directly by JD rather than third-party sellers. Causal mediation analysis reveals that ODS enhances delivery quality and builds customer trust by taking full responsibility for product and delivery issues, which jointly drive increased purchases. The findings suggest that ODS is a profitable long-term strategy, particularly effective in trust-deficient markets and for high-risk products, and provide a framework for online retailers to decide when and why to invest in self-operated delivery services.