Online Orders Seen Taking 20% Longer to Ship This Holiday Season (UPS) (FDX)

United Parcel Service (NYSE: UPS) and FedEx (NYSE: FDX) are expected to see a ramp in shipments as the holiday shopping season comes to a close. And, those orders might be taking longer than usual.

In a recent survey, management consulting firm Kurt Salmon said that the "average order-to-delivery time across all 62 retailers studied was 6.9 days," which is about 20 percent slower than last year.

Top performers includde the following:

• Delivered in 1 Day: Zappos
• Delivered in 2 Days: Lowe’s, Barney’s, Burberry
• Delivered in 3 Days: REI, Saks, Amazon, Under Armour
• Delivered in 4 Days: Bloomingdale’s

Notably, the slowdown comes following the implementation of another perk: free shipping. About 90 percent of retailers were said to offer a way for customers to utilize free shipping, up from just 15 percent last year. Around 64 percent of retailers offered free shipping on everything, from 50 percent in 2014.

FedEx and UPS are trading mixed late Monday, with FedEx lower as UPS ticks higher.

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