Logistics KPIs are business metrics used to calculate the profitability and performance of warehouses and their associated logistical processes. These key figures essentially provide information on the extent to which a company is achieving its business objectives regarding inventory and procurement. In this article, we reveal which metrics exist, what they indicate, and how they can be calculated.
Are you in the trade industry? Here is our Trade Logistics Benchmark Report 2025
Table of contents:
- Logistics KPIs: What are they for?
- What logistics metrics are there? An overview
- Calculating logistics KPIs with a collection of formulas
- Optimizing controlling with logistics metrics
- How to optimize your logistics KPIs
- Intelligent logistics management with TradeLink
Logistics KPIs: What are they for?
In logistics, key figures can be used to determine how economical and efficient a company's warehouse is. They are used to analyze, evaluate, and control logistical processes. The evaluation can focus on various aspects — such as the economic efficiency of yards, the supply chain, or transportation. By using these metrics to make logistics processes measurable, a company can take steps to optimize operations — because you can only continuously improve if you know exactly where the bottlenecks are.
Logistics KPIs offer the following advantages:
- Increasing warehouse performance
- Precise calculation and optimization of inventory levels
- Improved inventory planning
- Optimal use of storage space
- Reduced capital commitment
- Improving ordering processes
- Adjusting faulty or inefficient processes
Key performance indicators also serve to provide reliable forecasts for storage times, costs, utilization, and future order quantities—in short, to improve forecasting capabilities. Furthermore, companies can use these metrics as direct targets for employees to motivate them to work more efficiently and improve their work ethic.
It is important to note that not all warehouse metrics are equally relevant for every company or industry. The significance of individual indicators varies depending on the product range, company size, current situation, and specific objectives.
Now Calculation template for the most important logistics metrics download!
What logistics metrics are there? An overview
Logistics indicators provide information about various complex issues by condensing large amounts of data into a single metric. The following logistics figures are essential for any company looking to analyze its internal services and processes:
1. Delivery accuracy
The delivery accuracy indicator measures how many orders are processed in the warehouse without disruptions or incidents from receipt to dispatch. These incidents include incomplete or faulty deliveries, shipping delays, damage to goods, or even total loss of the product in transit. A delivery accuracy of at least 90 percent is considered exceptionally good, though it still implies that 10% of deliveries involve incidents. You should therefore aim to get as close to 100% as possible.
2. Delivery time
Only those who meet their promised delivery times can expect satisfied customers. Efficient logistics processes are therefore centered on accurate and punctual delivery. This can be measured in two ways: based on the on-time shipping rate and the on-time delivery rate. While the former indicates how often goods are shipped on the intended day, the on-time delivery rate evaluates how often the product arrives on the actual promised delivery date.
3. Transport and delivery costs
Every company aims to keep logistics costs as low as possible. Depending on the business, these consist of various sub-areas. In addition to transport and delivery costs, this includes expenses for administration, order processing, and warehousing. To determine the total logistics costs, you can calculate transport costs in relation to the product price, or evaluate total logistics costs in relation to the company's turnover (logistics cost share).
4. Capital commitment
Capital commitment is a vital logistics metric because it provides information about the capital tied up within the company—specifically, which goods are in stock and in what quantities. The higher the inventory levels, the higher the capital commitment. As long as goods remain in the warehouse unsold or unprocessed, they tie up pre-financing costs and reduce available capital, thereby impacting the company's liquidity.
5. Average inventory
As the name suggests, average inventory indicates the average quantity of goods held in the company's warehouse. This logistics indicator is crucial because it directly impacts capital commitment and storage costs. This metric is even easier to manage when articles are divided into ABC categories, allowing you to optimize the availability of your most critical items.
6. Average storage period
In addition to average inventory, you can also calculate the average storage period to determine how long goods and items remain in stock on average. The longer a product stays in stock, the higher the capital commitment—because the goods are neither sold nor processed, which in turn leads to higher storage costs.
Download the 2025 industry report for contract logistics
7. Inventory cost rate
If a company wants to relate its storage costs to its average inventory, it can calculate the inventory cost rate (ICR). Warehouse costs include all expenses incurred within the facility related to storage. In addition to space costs such as rent, depreciation, loan interest, energy, and insurance premiums, this also includes personnel and maintenance costs.
8. Inventory cost rate
If a company wants to know whether its warehousing costs are proportionate to the value of its goods, it can calculate the inventory cost rate. Using this logistics KPI, the company can analyze the profitability of its warehousing and determine the ideal order quantities for the future to keep storage costs as low as possible.
9. Inventory turnover rate
The inventory turnover rate is a key figure indicating how often a specific product leaves the warehouse and is replaced by new stock. The higher this figure, the more frequently the product is sold and reordered. The goal is to achieve the highest possible turnover rate, ideally at least 0.5. However, this value varies by company and industry. For instance, it is normal for retail or e-commerce companies to have a different turnover rate than industrial companies.
10. Inventory range
The logistics indicator for inventory range is crucial for analyzing and ensuring supply security over a given period, as it shows how long current stock will last based on average material consumption. If this figure is too high or too low, the company can make adjustments to optimize processes—for example, by modifying the production plan or changing order quantities. Here, too, analyses are made more precise by categorizing articles and materials into ABC classes.
11. Inventory interest and inventory interest rate
Inventory interest and the inventory interest rate are important indicators for determining the cost of capital tied up in average inventory during the average storage period. For example, if a company increases its inventory turnover rate, both its inventory interest and interest rates will decrease.
Download our 2025 benchmark report for production logistics now.
12. Reorder point
As a logistics indicator, the reorder point automatically triggers a new warehouse order. The goal is to ensure that production and manufacturing continue smoothly with sufficient availability until a new delivery arrives.
13. Minimum stock level
This key figure is also known as safety stock. As the name suggests, the minimum stock level is the baseline quantity of goods that should always be on hand. Maintaining safety stock allows companies to absorb and compensate for unforeseen events such as delivery delays, loss of goods, or inventory errors. In this context, the safety coefficient can also be calculated as an indicator, allowing the company to determine the ratio of minimum stock to average inventory.
14. Productivity
Productivity is not a fixed value, but can be calculated based on various factors—such as machine productivity, labor productivity, or cost productivity. Regardless of which services a company wants to evaluate, this logistics indicator always sets output in relation to input.
15. Inventory accuracy
Often referred to as "stock accuracy," this indicator is perhaps the most critical variable for reflecting the quality and reliability of a warehouse. The goods digitally recorded in the inventory management system (target) and the goods physically present in the warehouse (actual) must be identical to ensure accurate scheduling and procurement. Unexpected shortfalls lead directly to availability and supply issues. Ideally, there is no difference between target and actual, resulting in a value of 0. While reality often sees figures of 70% or 80%, this metric must realistically exceed 98% to guarantee a secure supply from the warehouse.
Discrepancies between target and actual figures necessitate complex warehouse inventories to identify and correct errors.
16. Inventory turnover ratio
In logistics, this key figure indicates the proportion of sold goods relative to total inventory. By calculating the inventory turnover, a company can determine whether, and to what extent, there is excess stock.
17. Supplier compliance
Finally, a company can also calculate supplier compliance to gain insights into the reliability of its suppliers. By comparing different suppliers, a high level of reliability and work ethic can be ensured—because if a supplier fails to meet the agreed-upon framework conditions, the company can seek out a service provider with a higher supplier compliance rate. This is important, for example, as part of Supplier management in accordance with ISO 9001.
Calculate logistics KPIs with a collection of formulas
If a company wants to calculate various logistics KPIs, it can use the following formulas:
Delivery accuracy = number of incident-free orders / total number of orders x 100
On-time shipping rate = number of deliveries shipped on schedule / total number of deliveries x 100
On-time delivery rate (also known as on-time delivery) = number of deliveries arrived on schedule / total number of deliveries x 100
Transport costs as a percentage of product price = transport costs per product / sales price per product x 100
Logistics cost ratio = logistics costs / revenue x 100
Capital commitment = Average inventory x (procurement costs/order quantity)
Average inventory = (starting inventory + ending inventory)/2
Average storage period = 360 days x average inventory/annual consumption
Inventory cost rate = inventory costs/average inventory value x 100
Inventory cost rate = inventory cost rate + imputed interest rate
Inventory turnover rate = Revenue/value of average inventory
Warehouse range = average inventory (of the period)/consumption (per period)
Inventory interest rate = interest rate (p.a.) x average storage period (in days)/360 days
Inventory interest = average inventory x inventory interest rate/100
Reporting inventory = daily consumption x delivery time + minimum stock
Minimum inventory = daily consumption x delivery time
safety factor = minimum stock / average inventory x 100
productivity (e.g. picks/employee) = output / input
inventory accuracy = number of items recorded in the ERP system - number of items actually in stock
inventory-to-sales ratio = value of goods sold / value of goods in warehouse
vendor compliance rate = late orders received / total orders received x 100
How to optimize your logistics KPIs
Leverage digitization and automation
Implementing digital tools such as slot management systems, real-time tracking, and AI-driven route planning can help minimize delays and increase process efficiency.
Make data-driven decisions
Continuously analyzing KPIs allows you to identify weaknesses early and take targeted action to improve them.
Improve collaboration with partners
Close cooperation with suppliers and carriers ensures better coordination and smoother processes—especially when booking slots and receiving goods on time. TradeLink has a delivery partner adoption rate of over 90%.
Optimize controlling with logistics metrics
The goal of logistics controlling is to coordinate and optimize logistical processes within the company. To achieve this, specific logistics metrics are required, serving as planning tools to monitor progress toward your goals. Success depends on the warehouse operating economically and efficiently. Every factor—from warehouse equipment and technology to personnel—must be aligned. Employees must always know their tasks, processes must run smoothly, and any potential for optimization must be identified early.
Key performance indicators are therefore vital in logistics. It is crucial that employees evaluate the right warehouse metrics, use accurate data, and analyze these figures under consistent conditions. Real-time data is essential for both operational and strategic process management; it is the only way to ensure, for example, that delivery quality per partner is calculated accurately and remains accessible at all times.
Paperwork, handwritten notes, unstructured Excel spreadsheets, and emails, however, hinder such strategic management. Yet, these remain the standard in many logistics companies today. For instance, our study showed that when 100+ logistics decision-makers were asked if relevant logistics and warehouse figures were available to them at all times, the answer was a clear no: more than 70 percent of companies still track the status of their incoming goods on paper.
This not only leads to a high risk of errors and discrepancies, but also consumes an immense amount of time whenever the company needs to determine key performance indicators. It is therefore not uncommon for employees to spend days digitizing data and reconciling suppliers.
