Author: Taylor Warfield, Former Bain Manager and interviewer

Last Updated: July 13, 2026

 

A logistics case interview is a consulting case that asks you to find and fix a problem in how a company moves and stores its products, from inbound freight and warehousing through distribution and last-mile delivery. This guide breaks down the six logistics case types, gives you a structure that works on any of them, and walks through a full example with the exact math interviewers expect.

 

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Key Takeaways

 

To pass a logistics case interview, structure the problem around the physical flow of goods, request the right operational data, do the cost and service math cleanly, then recommend specific actions tied to a dollar figure.

 

• Logistics cases are a subtype of operations case, focused on transportation, warehousing, and delivery rather than the full chain

 

• The six common types are network design, transportation and mode choice, last-mile delivery, warehousing and fulfillment, fleet and routing, and outsourcing to a third-party provider

 

• Almost every logistics case comes down to a trade-off between cost and service level

 

• Strong candidates quantify the impact of a recommendation instead of listing ideas

 

• Know the core math: cost per unit shipped, cost per mile, inventory turns, capacity utilization, and on-time delivery rate

 

• US business logistics costs hit $2.58 trillion in 2024, which is exactly why firms keep testing this skill

 

What Is a Logistics Case Interview?

 

A logistics case interview is a consulting case that asks you to diagnose and fix an inefficiency in how a company transports, stores, and delivers physical goods. You identify the broken link across the distribution flow, quantify its cost or service impact, then recommend specific changes such as redesigning the network, switching transport modes, or improving last-mile delivery.

 

Logistics is the movement and storage piece of the broader supply chain. A supply chain case interview looks at the whole chain from suppliers to customers, while a logistics case zooms in on the physical flow: inbound transportation, warehousing, outbound distribution, and last-mile delivery.

 

These cases show up because logistics is expensive and getting more so. According to the 2025 CSCMP State of Logistics Report prepared by Kearney, US business logistics costs reached $2.58 trillion in 2024, or 8.8% of GDP. When a cost line is that large, clients pay consultants to shrink it.

 

How Is a Logistics Case Different From a Supply Chain or Operations Case?

 

A logistics case is narrower than a supply chain case and more technical than a standard profitability case. Supply chain cases also cover sourcing and production. A profitability case hunts across all revenue and cost, while a logistics case assumes the problem sits in moving or storing goods and asks you to find exactly where.

 

These sit inside the broader family of the operations case interview, so the same mindset applies. Think in flows, capacity, and unit economics rather than market share or pricing.

 

Case type	Scope	Typical question
Logistics	Transportation, warehousing, distribution, delivery	Why are our shipping costs too high and how do we cut them
Supply chain	Suppliers, inputs, production, inventory, distribution	Where in the end-to-end chain is the bottleneck
Profitability	All revenue and cost drivers	Why are profits falling and how do we reverse it
Operations	Any internal process or capacity issue	How do we run this process faster or cheaper

 

What Types of Logistics Cases Will You Get?

 

There are six logistics case types you will see most often. Each maps to a different part of the flow from warehouse to customer, and naming the type early tells you which levers to reach for.

 

Distribution network design

 

The client wants to know how many distribution centers to run and where to put them. You compare configurations on total cost, which combines transportation, warehousing, and the inventory carried because of longer lead times. The classic tension is that consolidating into fewer centers cuts fixed cost but extends delivery distance and time.

 

Transportation and mode optimization

 

Here the question is how goods move between points and which mode to use. You weigh truck against rail, air against ocean, and full truckload against less-than-truckload, trading speed against cost. The right answer usually depends on shipment size, distance, and how time-sensitive the freight is.

 

Last-mile delivery

 

Last-mile delivery is the final leg from a local hub to the customer door, and it is the costliest part of the journey. Industry data from the Capgemini Research Institute puts last-mile at roughly 41% of total shipping cost, with several 2025 logistics analyses citing figures as high as 53%. The drivers are labor, fuel, failed deliveries, and the stop-and-start nature of urban routes.

 

Warehousing and fulfillment

 

This type focuses on what happens inside the four walls of a warehouse. You look at storage layout, picking and packing speed, throughput, labor productivity, and automation. The goal is usually to raise units shipped per labor hour or to fit more volume into the same square footage.

 

Fleet and routing

 

Fleet cases ask how to run a set of vehicles at the lowest cost while hitting delivery windows. Levers include route density, vehicle utilization, load consolidation, and whether to own, lease, or contract the fleet. Small gains in stops per route or miles per gallon scale into large savings across thousands of daily routes.

 

Outsourcing to a third-party provider

 

The make-or-buy question asks whether the client should run logistics in-house or hand it to a third-party logistics provider. You compare the all-in cost of doing it internally against the contract price, then weigh control, flexibility, and service risk. This overlaps with a procurement case interview whenever the decision turns on vendor selection.

 

How Do You Structure a Logistics Case?

 

The best way to structure a logistics case is to map the physical flow of goods, then test each stage for the problem. Generic case interview frameworks rarely fit a logistics case cleanly, because they were built for market entry or profitability, not for moving freight. Walk the goods from origin to customer and you will spot the weak link.

 

Use these six steps on any logistics case you get.

 

1. Clarify the objective: confirm whether the client wants lower cost, faster delivery, higher reliability, or more capacity
   
   
2. Map the flow: lay out the path from inbound transport to warehouse to outbound distribution to last-mile delivery
   
   
3. Request targeted data: ask for two or three specific numbers at a time, such as cost per stage or on-time rate by lane
   
   
4. Find the broken link: compare each stage against a benchmark and look for the outlier driving the problem
   
   
5. Quantify the fix: size the savings or service gain from solving that stage in annual dollars
   
   
6. Recommend and address risk: state the action, the number behind it, and the main risk to watch

 

This flow-based approach keeps you from forcing an off-the-shelf structure onto a problem it does not fit. If you want a faster way to build this instinct, my case interview course walks you through operations cases step by step in as little as 7 days.

 

What Does a Worked Logistics Case Example Look Like?

 

The clearest way to learn the structure is to watch it run on a real prompt. Here is a focused example with illustrative numbers so you can follow the math.

 

Example: Your client is a national furniture e-commerce retailer. Delivery costs are climbing and margins are slipping, and the client wants to cut delivery cost without hurting service.

 

The client ships 1 million orders per year at an average delivery cost of $40 per order, or $40 million annually. That delivery line is the single biggest controllable cost in the business.

 

Start by clarifying the objective and mapping the flow. The goal is lower delivery cost while holding on-time rate steady. The cost sits in the outbound and last-mile legs, so that is where you focus.

 

Now compare two options the client is weighing. Option A adds a regional distribution center to shorten delivery distance. Option B switches dense urban zones to regional carriers while keeping a national carrier elsewhere.

 

Run the math on Option A. The new center cuts last-mile cost to $34 per order but adds $4 million in fixed cost. That gives 1 million times $34, which is $34 million, plus $4 million, for $38 million total and $2 million in savings.

 

Now Option B. Regional carriers handle 60% of volume at $30 per order, and the national carrier covers the rest at $42. That is 600,000 times $30, or $18 million, plus 400,000 times $42, or $16.8 million, for $34.8 million total and $5.2 million in savings.

 

Recommend Option B. It saves $5.2 million against $2 million for Option A, with no fixed investment. Flag the service risk: regional carriers can be less reliable, so propose a pilot in two cities before a full rollout.

 

That final move matters. A weak candidate stops at the bigger number, while a strong one names the trade-off and de-risks the recommendation with a pilot.

 

What Logistics Math Should You Know?

 

Logistics cases reward clean operational math over fancy formulas. You should be able to compute these metrics quickly and explain what each one tells you. The same mental math discipline you build for any case interview math applies here, just with operational inputs.

 

Metric	How to calculate it	Why it matters
Cost per unit shipped	Total shipping cost divided by units shipped	Lets you compare lanes, carriers, or network options on the same basis
Cost per mile	Transport cost divided by miles driven	Reveals whether a route or mode is efficient
Inventory turns	Cost of goods sold divided by average inventory	Shows how fast stock moves and how much cash is tied up
Capacity utilization	Volume used divided by total capacity	Flags warehouses or trucks running too empty or too full
On-time delivery rate	On-time deliveries divided by total deliveries	The core service metric you trade against cost

 

The skill that separates candidates is turning a percentage into a dollar figure fast. If a fix raises on-time rate by lifting fleet utilization 10%, work out what that 10% is worth in saved trucks or routes before you call it a win.

 

Which Firms Ask Logistics Case Interviews?

 

Firms with deep operations practices ask logistics cases most often. McKinsey, BCG, Bain, and Kearney all run sizable operations groups, and Kearney authors the annual State of Logistics Report, so logistics sits close to their core. Big Four advisory teams also test these when staffing supply chain and operations projects.

 

You are most likely to face a logistics case when the client in your prompt is a retailer, manufacturer, e-commerce company, or carrier. Some logistics companies run their own consulting arms, and the DHL consulting case interview is a good example of cases built almost entirely around moving goods.

 

The practice you do here carries over. Many logistics prompts are really a cost reduction case interview wearing an operations costume, so the cost-driver thinking you already know does most of the work.

 

What Tips Help You Stand Out in a Logistics Case?

 

Tip #1: Map the flow before you build a structure

 

Sketch the path of the goods from origin to customer first. A flow you can point to beats a generic bucket structure every time, because it shows the interviewer you understand how the business actually runs.

 

Tip #2: Name the cost-versus-service trade-off out loud

 

Nearly every logistics recommendation trades cost against service level. Saying this explicitly signals real operations judgment. In my experience at Bain, candidates who flagged the trade-off unprompted stood out from those who only chased the cheapest option.

 

Tip #3: Ask for unit economics, not totals

 

A total cost figure hides the problem, while cost per unit or per mile exposes it. Request the per-unit numbers so you can benchmark stages against each other. This is the single fastest way to find the broken link.

 

Tip #4: Use benchmarks to spot the outlier

 

Most logistics problems reveal themselves as one number that sits far from the rest. Compare lead times, costs, or utilization across stages and lanes. The outlier is almost always where you should dig.

 

Tip #5: Tie every recommendation to a dollar figure

 

An idea without a number rarely lands in a logistics case. State what the fix is worth in annual savings or added capacity. Having coached hundreds of candidates, I have seen this habit turn an average performance into an offer.

 

What Are the Most Common Logistics Case Mistakes?

 

The quickest way to fail a logistics case is to treat it like a generic profitability case and ignore the operational detail. The mistakes below come up again and again in practice sessions.

 

• Jumping to solutions before mapping how goods actually move

 

• Recommending vague fixes like "optimize the network" without specifying the lever or the number

 

• Forgetting service level and chasing the lowest cost no matter the delivery hit

 

• Asking for every data point at once instead of two or three targeted numbers

 

• Comparing options on partial cost, such as transport only, while ignoring warehousing or inventory

 

A logistics case interview rewards candidates who think in flows, do clean operational math, and weigh cost against service at every turn. The fastest way to get there is repetition, so run timed practice cases on network design, last-mile, and transportation problems until the structure becomes automatic.

 

Frequently Asked Questions

 

What is a logistics case interview?

 

A logistics case interview is a consulting case that asks you to fix an inefficiency in how a company moves and stores its products. You diagnose the broken link across transportation, warehousing, and delivery, quantify its cost or service impact, then recommend specific changes. These cases are a subtype of operations case and show up often at firms with strong operations practices.

 

How is a logistics case interview different from a supply chain case interview?

 

A logistics case is narrower. A supply chain case covers the full flow from suppliers and production through inventory and distribution. A logistics case zooms in on the physical movement and storage of goods, meaning transportation, warehousing, outbound distribution, and last-mile delivery. The math and levers are similar, but a logistics case assumes the problem already sits in moving or storing products.

 

What math do I need for a logistics case interview?

 

Know cost per unit shipped, cost per mile, inventory turns, capacity utilization, and on-time delivery rate. You should be able to compare two network or carrier options on total cost, weigh fixed against variable costs, and translate a percentage improvement into an annual dollar figure. Clean mental math and clear assumptions matter more than advanced formulas.

 

Which consulting firms ask logistics case interviews?

 

Firms with deep operations practices ask these most, including McKinsey, BCG, Bain, and Kearney, along with Big Four advisory teams. You are also likely to face one when interviewing for an operations or supply chain practice, or when the client in your case is a retailer, manufacturer, e-commerce company, or logistics provider.

 

How do I prepare for a logistics case interview?

 

Practice structuring cases around the physical flow of goods rather than a generic framework, and drill the core operational math until it is automatic. Run timed practice cases on network design, last-mile delivery, and transportation problems. Always end each practice case by naming the cost-versus-service trade-off and tying your recommendation to a number.

 

Are logistics cases harder than normal cases?

 

They are not harder, but they are more technical. The solution space involves specific terms like lead time, mode choice, and cost to serve, so vague answers stand out as weak. Candidates who know the vocabulary and do the math cleanly tend to find logistics cases more predictable than open-ended strategy cases.

 

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