Last-Mile Tracking: Why It Matters for Retailers and 3PLs

Last-mile tracking is critical for retailers to streamline their internal operations and improve the customer experience. Bringg's 2025 State of the Last Mile report stated that 31% of retailers face challenges with tracking and 72% of retailers invested in real-time visibility platforms in the last two years to overcome them.

According to Deborah Laloum, a Market Research Analyst at Bringg, last-mile visibility offers two key advantages:

• Operational agility: enables quick responses to disruptions, adjustment of fulfillment flows, and prevention of minor delays from escalating
• Customer empowerment: keeps customers informed and allows them to participate in delivery decisions, leading to a smoother and more predictable experience

“Real-time visibility improves last-mile quality in two ways,” said Laloum. “First, it allows retailers to respond to changes and disruptions quickly without affecting too many customers. It also improves overall service quality.

“Second, it makes customers a part of the process. Customers should be able to see updates to their order and have a say if any change is needed. Overall, customers are more likely to react better to changes, expectations, and delays if they receive clear communication.

This article breaks some of the nuances of customer-facing and internal last-mile delivery tracking. It also explores how leading retailers and 3PLs approach last-mile tracking as a driver of both operational control and customer loyalty.

Why invest in last-mile delivery tracking?

Last-mile tracking matters because it touches both customer loyalty and operational efficiency. Here’s why it’s critical:

Protects margins

Every failed delivery attempt means added truck rolls, more driver hours, and wasted fuel. Real-time tracking reduces those costs by improving first-attempt delivery success and preventing unnecessary redeliveries.

Reduces WISMO tickets

Consumers want visibility. Without it, they call support, which increases costs and strains customer support teams. Real-time tracking and proactive alerts shrink WISMO volume and lowers service overhead.

Builds customer trust

Delivery is the last touchpoint of the customer journey. If customers see accurate ETAs, real-time updates, and seamless handoffs, they perceive the brand as reliable. That trust translates into higher repeat purchase rates.

Enables operational control

Internal tracking allows 3PLs and retailers with hybrid fleets to monitor carriers, driver behavior, and order flow across networks. This visibility ensures SLAs are met and bottlenecks addressed before they escalate.

Creates a foundation for better coordination

Tracking fuels automation. With real-time data, systems can recalculate ETAs, reroute drivers, or trigger exception workflows. That’s the difference between reactive logistics and proactive coordination.

Customer-facing last-mile tracking

For consumers, last-mile delivery visibility is about control just as much as knowing when a package will arrive. Rideshare and food delivery platforms normalized real-time updates, two-way communication, and visible ETAs. Now, shoppers and B2B buyers alike expect the same precision for everything from home fitness equipment to replacement parts.

However, roughly 48% of organizations struggle to meet consumer expectations for delivery visibility, according to Gartner. Leading logistics companies use tracking as a loyalty driver with investments like:

• Self-service rescheduling portals to let customers adjust time windows or delivery dates directly
• Photo confirmation of delivery for visual proof when items are left at a doorstep
• SMS or push alerts when an order is on the way or automated “next stop” alerts when delivery is one stop away
• Real-time maps showing driver location and ETA
• Dynamic recalculations that adjust ETAs in real time when traffic or delays occur
• Two-way communication between customer and driver
• Post-delivery feedback or rating options

Retailers and 3PLs that offer proactive updates and self-service rescheduling can lower their WISMO calls, reduce failed delivery attempts, and increase first-attempt delivery success rates, which directly protect margins.

Carrier and internal last-mile tracking

Customer-facing visibility alone isn’t enough. Retailers and 3PLs also need internal last-mile tracking to monitor every truck, driver, and order across their delivery network. Businesses can also reframe visibility as a network-wide control layer rather than simply dots on a map. 

Nuanced carrier visibility looks like:

• Cross-carrier fleet visibility via unified dashboards that display order and vehicle status across owned, contracted, and crowdsourced fleets
• Digital proof of delivery with photos and signatures
• Real-time exception detection with automated alerts for late ETAs, failed scans, or stalled vehicles to allow proactive recovery
• Geo-fencing and time-stamped arrival alerts that notify when drivers enter or exit defined delivery zones to track compliance and tighten SLAs
• Driver performance analytics on stop duration, on-time performance, fuel efficiency, and delivery density
• Automated compliance tracking to monitor hours-of-service, safety checks, and regulatory documentation across carriers
• Real-time ETA recalculation with AI-driven adjustments that account for traffic, weather, or service variability
• Returns and reverse logistics visibility

Retailers and 3PLs that capture real-time insights across fleets, carriers, and delivery flows gain the ability to act, not just observe. Managers with accurate data can allocate resources with precision, resolve disruptions before they escalate, and hold partners accountable to SLAs. The result is a delivery network that runs leaner, adapts faster, and builds trust with every completed order.

From tracking to system-wide coordination

Real-time data on trucks, drivers, and orders only delivers value when businesses can act on it. That’s where data-driven coordination comes in. When retailers and 3PLs digitize and automate delivery flows then connect the relevant data, they transform visibility into actionable decisions that protect margins and improve service quality.

With synchronized systems, businesses can:

• Consolidate data across carriers, fleets, and regions: eliminate silos and bring every order, asset, and partner into one operational view. Unified visibility allows leaders to compare performance, enforce SLAs, and allocate jobs based on cost, service level, or availability
• Automate recovery when exceptions occur: automated workflows reroute drivers, trigger alerts, or re-sequence stops without manual dispatcher intervention
• Analyze trends to improve routing and capacity planning: historical delivery data reveals bottlenecks, such as underperforming carriers or high dwell times, that can be addressed to improve efficiency over time

End-to-end alignment turns tracking data into action. Modern last-mile delivery visibility systems recalculate ETAs in real time, dynamically assign jobs across fleets, and trigger proactive updates to customers.

Leadership takeaway: Control and visibility are new baselines

Last-mile tracking once differentiated leaders from laggards. Today, it’s table stakes. The real competitive edge comes from combining visibility, automation, and data integration to better control operations and make more data-driven decisions. A connected system ensures every order reaches the customer as promised.

For retailers, this system means protecting margins with reduced failed deliveries, controlled hybrid fleets, and fulfilled customer expectations for precision and transparency. For 3PLs, it means scaled operations across networks and geographies without losing control or profitability.

As delivery volumes grow and consumer expectations evolve, the winners in this space will be those who know much more than where their trucks are. They’ll be the ones who use that data to act, adapt, and deliver with confidence.