Background: An effective and efficient last-mile delivery service plays a critical role towards the growth of global online retail sales. In Kenya, online customers have often been unwilling to shop online again, mainly because of delivery issues. However, the extent to which customers are satisfied with the last-mile delivery service remains unknown. This is despite the significant potential that the sector has, which remains unrealised in the country’s economy.Objectives: The key objective of this study was to establish the extent of customer satisfaction with the different elements of last-mile delivery service offered by online retailers in Kenya.Method: A quantitative approach was utilised. An online survey collected data from 467 online customers (‘users’ and ‘nonusers’) in Nairobi. The data were subjected to descriptive statistics and the mixed model analysis of variance (ANOVA) to determine the outcome of the study.Results: ‘Users’ were most satisfied with delivery options while ‘nonusers’ were most satisfied with delivery fees. However, both ‘users’ and ‘nonusers’ were least satisfied with returns. This study also found that ‘users’ were more satisfied with delivery options, delivery tracking and returns compared with ‘nonusers’. There was a significant difference in satisfaction with delivery options for ‘users’ and ‘nonusers’.Conclusion: Online retail managers are advised to improve the way in which they offer returns to their customers. This involves offering more options for returning the ordered goods, making it easy to locate the returns procedure on their websites and having a clear returns policy.Contribution: This study advances the understanding of last-mile delivery service, after comprehensive empirical evidence of customer satisfaction with the different elements of last-mile delivery service in Kenya.

The article aims to determine the last mile delivery challenges faced by online retailers in Kenya. This is based on the online retailing sub-sector’s contribution to the country’s economy. Despite its significant contribution to the country’s economy, little is known about the challenges facing online retailers during last mile delivery. In other countries such as China and South Africa, that are doing better in online retailing, extensive research has been done to determine unique challenges facing their online retailers during last mile delivery. It is important for the online retailers and relevant government agencies in Kenya to understand the last mile delivery factors that hinder the growth e-commerce. A qualitative research design using face-to-face interviews was used to collect data from seven online retail managers in Nairobi. The findings revealed there are a variety of last mile delivery challenges facing online retailers. These include the lack of a good national addressing system, traffic concerns, security concerns, high cost of delivery, postal service unreliability, and unconducive county government by-laws. The lack of a good national addressing system was found to be the most common last mile delivery challenge facing online retailers in Nairobi. It is recommended that retailers request their customers to share location details via online map applications such as Google Maps to overcome this challenge. The use of other delivery options, such as customer pick-up points of convenience can also be considered.