On-Time Delivery Rate, Alibaba

On-Time Delivery Rate for Alibaba stores. Tracked live in Vortex IQ Nerve Centre. How to read it, why it matters, and how to act on it.

Metrics type: Key Metrics • Category: Fulfilment

At a glance

On-Time Delivery Rate is a fulfilment metric tracked from Alibaba data. It reports the share of B2B orders delivered within the promised window, a number Alibaba buyers watch closely and one that feeds directly into supplier badge standing. The card sits in the Fulfilment category and pairs with dispatch and shipment-backlog siblings, because misses here compound toward badge loss and buyer blocklists. Cross-reference the related cards listed below for context.

What it counts	The percentage of B2B orders delivered on or before the promised delivery date over the trailing 30-day window. Computed from the latest available shipment and delivery data and refreshed on the standard data refresh.
Sample type	Backend API data from Alibaba, refreshed on the standard data refresh.
Why it matters	The metric appears in the Fulfilment category and complements the sibling cards listed below. B2B buyers expect tight delivery windows, and sustained misses erode the supplier badge and push buyers to competitors.
Reading the value	Higher is better. Compare the current 30-day window to the prior period and watch for any slide toward the alert floor. Cross-reference siblings for the full diagnostic picture.
Currency	percent
Time window	30D vsP
Alert trigger	<95%
Sentiment key	ali_on_time_delivery_rate
Roles	owner, operations

Calculation

Vortex IQ divides the number of orders delivered on or before their promised date by the total number of orders due for delivery in the trailing 30-day window, expressed as a percentage. The card also reports the change against the prior comparable period. See the At a glance summary above for what the metric tracks and the worked example below for a typical reading.

Worked example

A representative reading of On-Time Delivery Rate for a typical Alibaba supplier. Suppose 420 B2B orders were due for delivery in the 30 days ending 12 Mar 26 and 393 of them arrived on or before the promised date. That is an on-time rate of about 93.6 percent, which sits below the 95 percent alert floor and turns the gauge amber. The prior window ran at 96.2 percent, so the operations owner sees a real slide rather than noise. They check the pending-shipment backlog and dispatch cadence to find the held orders before the badge KPI is affected. For deeper investigation of which lanes or order types caused the misses, use Vortex Mind to trace upstream causes; for natural-language exploration such as “which orders shipped late last week”, ask Ask Viq.

Sibling cards merchants should reference together

Card	Why merchants reach for it
pending-shipment-waiting-seller-send	Fulfilment sibling: dispatch backlog that directly threatens on-time delivery.
late-shipments-risking-supplier-badge	Fulfilment sibling: late shipments that drag this rate down.
supplier-badge-kpi-threshold-crossed	Reputation sibling: badge KPI that on-time delivery feeds.
orders-day	Fulfilment sibling: order volume that sets the dispatch load.
alibaba-supplier-health-score	Reputation sibling: composite health score on-time delivery contributes to.

Reconciling against Alibaba Seller dashboard

Where to look in Alibaba’s own dashboard:

Open the Alibaba Supplier workbench and go to the service or performance section, where on-time delivery and other supplier performance KPIs are reported alongside badge standing. The workbench typically shows a rolling performance figure tied to badge eligibility. Confirm period boundaries and filter settings match the Vortex IQ profile to reconcile cleanly.

Why the Vortex IQ value may legitimately differ:

Reason	Direction	What to do
Period boundary. Vortex IQ uses a 30-day rolling window by default; the workbench may use its own performance cycle.	Variable	Match the period range.
Time zone. The workbench uses the account time zone; Vortex IQ aligns to merchant reporting time zone, which can shift a borderline delivery across the cutoff.	Marginal	Confirm time zone match.
Filter scope. Profile-level filters (channel, B2B only, test orders) may narrow the Vortex IQ view.	Variable	Match filter settings.

Cross-connector reconciliation: complement with sibling cards in the same category for the full diagnostic picture. For divergence investigations, use Vortex Mind.

Known limitations / merchant FAQs

Q: How often does On-Time Delivery Rate update? The card refreshes on the standard data refresh (typically every 30-60 minutes for live integrations). Delivery confirmations can post with a lag, so a borderline rate may settle over a few refreshes.

Q: Why does my Alibaba dashboard show a different number? The most common reasons are period-boundary differences (Vortex IQ uses 30-day rolling versus the workbench’s own performance cycle), time-zone alignment on borderline deliveries, and filter scope (profile-level versus all-account view). Match these settings before assuming a real divergence.

Q: How does On-Time Delivery Rate relate to other fulfilment metrics? Read it next to the pending-shipment backlog and late-shipment cards. A rising backlog or late-shipment count usually shows up here within days, and all three feed the supplier badge KPI, so the diagnostic value is in the cross-reference.

Q: Can I customise the alert threshold? Yes, alert thresholds are configurable per profile in the Alert Rules tab. The default fires below 95 percent; adjust it to match your business baseline or your category’s badge requirement rather than relying on the generic default.

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Tracked live in Vortex IQ Nerve Centre

On-Time Delivery Rate is one of hundreds of KPI pulses Vortex IQ tracks across Alibaba and 70+ other ecommerce connectors. Nerve Centre runs the detection layer; Vortex Mind investigates the cause when something moves; Ask Viq lets you interrogate any number in plain English.

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