Criteria of quality requirements deciding on choice of the logistic operator from a perspective of his customer and the end recipient of goods

The choice of the operator involves taking risks, especially when changing the way logistics is handled (e.g. from your own warehouse and distribution network to external – outsourced). The aim of the article is to present the most important factors that directly and indirectly influence purchasing decisions made by customers of logistics operators. In order to correctly determine the parameters of the selection of a logistics service provider in terms of quality, it is necessary to define quality requirements criteria that allow to meet specific KPIs (Key Performance Indicators) to measure the satisfaction of the final recipient of the goods. The main goal of the article is to answer the question of how to define criteria to be relevant to customer expectations and how they affect final purchasing decisions in the context of choosing the operator to provide logistics services. In order to illustrate the full picture of the studied environment, as well as to maximally facilitate and encourage respondents to participate in the study, surveys were used mainly in the form of Internet, mostly containing closed and several open questions. The research was based on three research groups: logistics operators, customers of logistics operators and final recipients of services of logistics operators. In the individual groups, the survey invited: 1) about 80 companies from European logistics operators; 2) approx. 150 companies from Central and Western Europe dealing in production and trade according to the classification of economic activity; 3) over 2,000 people who have declared to buy various goods with delivery to the address indicated.