Dive Brief:

• E-commerce pure-play retailer Jet pulled back on its holiday delivery promises and is warning some customers that their gifts won’t make it by Christmas. A banner on its website leads to a pop-up message that says, in part: "We are committed to creating the best possible experience for our customers, so we wanted to let you know that we can no longer confidently guarantee delivery by December 25th for any items not flagged as eligible for 2-day delivery.” 

• Customers can opt for two-day shipping to increase their chances, but the option is expensive. Some of the delivery delays are due to Jet’s reliance on other retailers to fulfill their own orders.

• FedEx and UPS earlier this month reported some issues with on-time deliveries as e-commerce this year has surged.

Dive Insight:

Jet launched in July promising the lowest prices on the web, but at the moment the final checkout price for customers hoping to get gifts delivered on time for Christmas might feel the pinch of the high cost of speedy shipping.

The fulfillment snafu isn’t entirely in Jet’s control, considering that the major shippers themselves have struggled under this year’s e-commerce boom. From Thanksgiving to Cyber Monday, online sales increased 21% year over year, according to ChannelAdvisor. And web sales set a record of $3.12 billion just on Cyber Monday, according to ComScore.

The newcomer’s announcement to customers comes as it faces its first holiday rush.

Jet's main competitor, Amazon, notably hasn't had many issues being clear about when packages will arrive this season. Its vast fulfillment network nationwide, plus its agreement with the U.S. Postal Service for Sunday delivery, has enabled it to get packages delivered swiftly. Amazon's formidable fulfillment capacity may be aided by increased use of its own fleet of trucks and even reported plans to lease its own cargo jets.

Jet has made a lot of noise about beating Amazon on price, too, but that was made somewhat more difficult by its decision to forgo its membership model, which was originally to be the sole source of revenue. 

Meanwhile, though Jet still seems determined to compete on price, Amazon appears to be more interested in accruing more sticky Prime members than on being the bottom-price leader.