Do e-commerce customers change their preferred last-mile delivery based on its sustainability impact?

2020 ◽  
Vol 31 (3) ◽  
pp. 521-548 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bianca Ignat ◽  
Stanislav Chankov
Keyword(s):  
Information Sharing ◽  
Stated Preference ◽  
Real Life ◽  
New Approach ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Additional Information ◽  
Last Mile ◽  
Making Choices ◽  
Delivery Options ◽  
Last Mile Delivery

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to explore if e-commerce customers change their preferred last-mile delivery, when they are provided with additional information on the environmental and social sustainability impact of the available last-mile delivery options.Design/methodology/approachWe conduct a stated-preference survey and apply McNemar test on the collected data.FindingsThe results show that displaying the environmental and social impacts of last-mile deliveries influences E-commerce customers, and generally makes them more likely to choose a more sustainable last-mile delivery.Research limitations/implicationsThe main limitations are (1) the possible inconsistency between participants' intentions stated in the survey and their actual behaviour in real life and (2) the possibility of participants denying socially undesirable behaviours. Further research can study e-commerce customers' real behaviour.Practical implicationsE-retailers and logistics companies could implement transparent information sharing on the delivery sustainability impact on all three sustainability pillars.Social implicationsThe suggested transparent information sharing has the potential to change customers' behaviours towards more sustainable deliveries.Originality/valueWe provide a new approach in investigating customers' preferences on last-mile deliveries, by giving E-customers the chance of making choices between different deliveries, not only based on the economic factors (as in common practice nowadays) but also based on the environmental and social factors.

Attended home delivery in Indian public distribution system: an iterated local search approach

2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Sayan Chakraborty ◽  
Kalpit Darbhe ◽  
Sarada Sarmah
Keyword(s):  
Distribution System ◽  
Real Life ◽  
Iterated Local Search ◽  
Home Delivery ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Delivery Problem ◽  
Public Distribution System ◽  
Last Mile ◽  
Last Mile Delivery ◽  
Problem Setting

Purpose In the modern era of e-grocery, attended home delivery (AHD) has been identified as a crucial part of the last-mile delivery problem. This paper aims to deal with a real-life last-mile-delivery problem in the context of the Indian public distribution system (PDS). The authors identified two different environments for the said AHD problem and proposed two different approaches to address the issue under these problem settings. Design/methodology/approach In this study, the authors first consider the problem in a static environment and propose an iterated local search (ILS) integrated with an adaptive large neighborhood search (ALNS) meta-heuristic algorithm to obtain a routing solution. Thereafter, they extend the study in a dynamic environment where new delivery requests occur dynamically and propose a heuristic algorithm to solve the problem. For the dynamic case, multiple scenarios for the occurrence of delivery requests are considered to determine decisions regarding the opportunity to include a new request into the current solution. Findings By computational experiments, the authors show that the proposed approach performs significantly well for large size problem instances. They demonstrate the differences and advantages of the dynamic problem setting through a set of different scenarios. Also, they present a comparative analysis to show the benefits of adopting the algorithm in dynamic routing scenarios. Research limitations/implications Future research may extend the scope of this study by incorporating stochastic delivery failure probabilities and customer behavior affecting the delivery response. Also, the present study does not take inventory policies at the depot into consideration. It will be of interest to see how the system performs under the uncertainty of supply from the depot. Despite the limitations, the authors believe that this study provides food for thought and encouragements for practitioners. Practical implications This study shows the benefits of adopting an AHD problem in a dynamic setting in terms of customer service as compared to a traditional static environment. The authors clearly demonstrate the differences and advantages of the dynamic problem setting through a set of different scenario analysis. Social implications This paper investigates a real-life AHD problem faced by the Department of Food, Supply and Consumer Affairs, India. The findings of this study will be of particular interest to the policy-makers to build a more robust PDS in India. Originality/value The study is unique and highly relevant for real-world applications and can help build a more robust AHD system. Also, the proposed solution approaches to aid the problem in both static and dynamic routing scenarios will be of particular interest to practitioners.

Last-mile logistics in the sharing economy: sustainability paradoxes

2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Btissam Moncef ◽  
Marlène Monnet Dupuy
Keyword(s):  
Service Providers ◽  
Primary Source ◽  
Sharing Economy ◽  
Food Delivery ◽  
Logistics Management ◽  
Exploratory Research ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Face To Face ◽  
Last Mile ◽  
Last Mile Delivery

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to explore sustainability paradoxes in sharing economy initiatives by focusing on logistics management in last-mile logistics.Design/methodology/approachIn this exploratory study, a total of 10 case studies were conducted in three categories of companies: anti-waste platforms, food delivery platforms and bicycle delivery companies. Twenty-seven face-to-face interviews with founders and/or managers and contractors (couriers, logistics service providers or volunteers) were the primary source of data collection. The heterogeneity of the sample enabled the authors to build an understanding of sustainability paradoxes in the logistics of sharing economy initiatives.FindingsThe findings indicate how logistics management impacts the sustainability of sharing economy initiatives in last-mile delivery. The authors identify seven paradoxical tensions (five of them social) generated by the contradictions between the organizations' promised environmental and social values and the impacts of their operations.Research limitations/implicationsThis exploratory research is based on a qualitative study of 10 cases and 27 interviews from heterogeneous samples; further empirical research is needed to ensure generalization.Practical implicationsThe paper increases the understanding of environmental and social paradoxical tensions and awareness of logistics challenges.Social implicationsThe paper helps identify ways to reconcile promised values and impacts generated by sharing economy initiatives while managing last-mile delivery.Originality/valueThe results enrich the literature about the paradoxes in sharing economy initiatives by providing illustrations in last-mile logistics and exposing the underlying challenges for sharing economy logistics actors.

A last-mile delivery problem with alternative delivery options based on prospect theory

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hongsen Ma ◽  
Hanbin Kuang ◽  
Min Huang
Keyword(s):  
Prospect Theory ◽  
Delivery Problem ◽  
Last Mile ◽  
Delivery Options ◽  
Last Mile Delivery ◽  
Alternative Delivery

scholarly journals Configuring the Last-Mile in Business-to-Consumer E-Retailing

2018 ◽  
Vol 61 (2) ◽  
pp. 132-154 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stanley Frederick W. T. Lim ◽  
Matthias Winkenbach
Keyword(s):  
Product Variety ◽  
Retail Sector ◽  
Supply Networks ◽  
Last Mile ◽  
Geographical Regions ◽  
Consumer Surveys ◽  
Shopping Experience ◽  
Business To Consumer ◽  
Delivery Options ◽  
Last Mile Delivery

Fulfillment strategies that offer consumers a consistent shopping experience across different channels and devices through a variety of last-mile delivery options have emerged as a powerful engine for growth in the retail sector. To thrive in this new environment, retailers need to (re)configure their last-mile supply networks to achieve better alignment between delivery responsiveness, product variety, and convenience. This article reviews multiple case studies of leading retailers across geographical regions, maps these retailers’ network configurations, and conducts consumer surveys to examine how retailers operate their last-mile distribution to cope with omnichannel demands. This study develops a typology consisting of four ideal forms of last-mile supply networks differentiated by the speed of delivery responsiveness and level of product variety. It proposes a set of prescriptive guidelines for retailers to undertake reconfiguration of their last-mile distribution.

scholarly journals From bricks-and-mortar to bricks-and-clicks

2018 ◽  
Vol 48 (4) ◽  
pp. 415-438 ◽  
Author(s):  
Johannes Wollenburg ◽  
Alexander Hübner ◽  
Heinrich Kuhn ◽  
Alexander Trautrims
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Exploratory Study ◽  
Primary Source ◽  
Delivery Systems ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Configuration Theory ◽  
Logistics Networks ◽  
Grocery Retailing ◽  
Last Mile ◽  
Last Mile Delivery

Purpose The advent of grocery sales through online channels necessitates that bricks-and-mortar retailers redefine their logistics networks if they want to compete online. Because the general understanding of such bricks-and-clicks logistics systems for grocery is still limited, the purpose of this paper is to analyze the internal logistics networks used to serve customers across channels by means of an exploratory study with retailers from different contexts. Design/methodology/approach A total of 12 case companies from six European countries participated in this exploratory study. Face-to-face interviews with managers were the primary source for data collection. The heterogeneity of the sample enabled the authors to build a typology of logistics networks in grocery retailing on multiple channels and to understand the advantages of different warehousing, picking, internal transportation and last-mile delivery systems. Findings Bricks-and-mortar grocery retailers are leveraging their existing logistics structures to fulfill online orders. Logistics networks are mostly determined by the question of where to split case packs into customer units. In non-food logistics, channel integration is mostly seen as beneficial, but in grocery retailing, this depends heavily on product, market and retailer specifics. The data from the heterogeneous sample reveal six distinct types for cross-channel order fulfillment. Practical implications The qualitative analysis of different design options can serve as a decision support for retailers developing logistics networks to serve customers across channels. Originality/value The paper shows the internal and external factors that drive the decision-making for omni-channel (OC) logistics networks for previously store-based grocery retailers. Thereby, it makes a step toward building a contingency and configuration theory of retail networks design. It discusses in particular the differences between grocery and non-food OC retailing, last-mile delivery systems and market characteristics in the decision-making of retail networks design.

Dynamic vehicle routing problem considering simultaneous dual services in the last mile delivery

Kybernetes ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 49 (4) ◽  
pp. 1267-1284 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yandong He ◽  
Xu Wang ◽  
Fuli Zhou ◽  
Yun Lin
Keyword(s):  
Vehicle Routing ◽  
Delivery System ◽  
Vehicle Routing Problem ◽  
Mixed Integer ◽  
Dynamic Vehicle Routing ◽  
Dynamic Vehicle Routing Problem ◽  
Routing Problem ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Last Mile ◽  
Last Mile Delivery

Purpose This paper aims to study the vehicle routing problem with dynamic customers considering dual service (including home delivery [HD] and customer pickup [CP]) in the last mile delivery in which three decisions have to be made: determine routes that lie along the HD points and CP facilities; optimize routes in real time, which mode is better between simultaneous dual service (SDS, HD points and CP facilities are served simultaneously by the same vehicle); and respective dual service (RDS, HD points and CP facilities are served by different vehicles)? Design/methodology/approach This paper establishes a mixed integer linear programing model for the dynamic vehicle routing problem considering simultaneous dual services (DVRP-SDS). To increase the practical usefulness and solve large instances, the authors designed a two-phase matheuristic including construction-improvement heuristics to solve the deterministic model and dynamic programing to adjust routes to dynamic customers. Findings The computational experiments show that the CP facilities offer greater flexibility for adjusting routes to dynamic customers and that the SDS delivery system outperforms the RDS delivery system in terms of cost and number of vehicles used. Practical implications The results provide managerial insights for express enterprises from the perspective of operation research to make decisions. Originality/value This paper is among the first papers to study the DVRP-SDS. Moreover, this paper guides the managers to select better delivery mode in the last mile delivery.

scholarly journals Multiple manipulators path planning using double A*

2016 ◽  
Vol 43 (6) ◽  
pp. 657-664 ◽  
Author(s):  
Pedro Tavares ◽  
José Lima ◽  
Pedro Costa ◽  
A. Paulo Moreira
Keyword(s):  
Path Planning ◽  
Real Life ◽  
Robotic Manipulators ◽  
Optimization Methods ◽  
Robotic Manipulator ◽  
New Approach ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Simulation Engine ◽  
Automated Processes ◽  
New System

Purpose Streamlining automated processes is currently undertaken by developing optimization methods and algorithms for robotic manipulators. This paper aims to present a new approach to improve streamlining of automatic processes. This new approach allows for multiple robotic manipulators commonly found in the industrial environment to handle different scenarios, thus providing a high-flexibility solution to automated processes. Design/methodology/approach The developed system is based on a spatial discretization methodology capable of describing the surrounding environment of the robot, followed by a novel path-planning algorithm. Gazebo was the simulation engine chosen, and the robotic manipulator used was the Universal Robot 5 (UR5). The proposed system was tested using the premises of two robotic challenges: EuRoC and Amazon Picking Challenge. Findings The developed system was able to identify and describe the influence of each joint in the Cartesian space, and it was possible to control multiple robotic manipulators safely regardless of any obstacles in a given scene. Practical implications This new system was tested in both real and simulated environments, and data collected showed that this new system performed well in real-life scenarios, such as EuRoC and Amazon Picking Challenge. Originality/value The new proposed approach can be valuable in the robotics field with applications in various industrial scenarios, as it provides a flexible solution for multiple robotic manipulator path and motion planning.

scholarly journals Picture fuzzy WASPAS method for selecting last-mile delivery mode: a case study of Belgrade

2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Vladimir Simić ◽  
Dragan Lazarević ◽  
Momčilo Dobrodolac
Keyword(s):  
Urban Areas ◽  
High Reliability ◽  
Real Life ◽  
Delivery Mode ◽  
Uncertain Information ◽  
Logistics Industry ◽  
Last Mile ◽  
Picture Fuzzy Set ◽  
Last Mile Delivery

Abstract Background Last-mile delivery (LMD) is becoming more and more demanding due to an increasing number of users and traffic problems in cities. Besides, medical crises (like the COVID-19 outbreak) and air pollution represent additional motives for the transition from traditional to socially and environmentally sustainable LMD mode. An emerging problem for companies in the postal and logistics industry is how to determine the best LMD mode in a multi-criteria setting under uncertainty. Method For the first time, an extension of the Weighted Aggregated Sum Product ASsessment (WASPAS) method under the picture fuzzy environment is presented to solve the LMD mode selection problem. The introduced picture fuzzy set (PFS) based multi-criteria decision-making (MCDM) method can be highly beneficial to managers who are in charge of LMD since it can take into account the neutral/refusal information and efficiently deal with high levels of imprecise, vague, and uncertain information. The comparative analysis with the existing state-of-the-art PFS-based MCDM methods approved the high reliability of the proposed picture fuzzy WASPAS method. Its high robustness and consistency are also confirmed. The presented method can be used to improve LMD in urban areas worldwide. Besides, it can be applied to solve other emerging MCDM problems in an uncertain environment. Findings A real-life case study of Belgrade is presented to fully illustrate the potentials and applicability of the picture fuzzy WASPAS method. The results show that postomates are the best mode for LMD in Belgrade, followed by cargo bicycles, drones, traditional delivery, autonomous vehicles, and tube transport.

scholarly journals E-Groceries: A Channel Choice Analysis in Shanghai

2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (7) ◽  
pp. 3625
Author(s):  
Valerio Gatta ◽  
Edoardo Marcucci ◽  
Ila Maltese ◽  
Gabriele Iannaccone ◽  
Jiarui Fan
Keyword(s):  
Time Window ◽  
Stated Preference ◽  
Heterogeneous Reactions ◽  
Policy Implications ◽  
Delivery Model ◽  
Channel Choice ◽  
Market Shares ◽  
Choice Analysis ◽  
Last Mile ◽  
Last Mile Delivery

E-grocery is becoming more and more popular, involving both pure e-commerce players and physical stores in its development and sales. As a consequence, the last mile delivery model has been heavily modified, with ambiguous final impact on the environment. This paper identifies the key elements germane to e-grocery (demand and supply), discusses e-grocery development and investigates the challenges ahead. In more detail, it presents the results of a stated preference survey on consumers’ channel choices for the grocery market. The survey was carried out in Shanghai (China) in order to investigate different purchase attributes, such as product and delivery service price, product range, lead time, time window and travel time. The paper identifies heterogeneous reactions to alternative service configurations, which allows to estimate market shares for e-grocery, with the in-store option as a reference. Policy implications and operational solutions to improve the sustainability of this renewed last mile delivery model are thus proposed.

Matching Model for Multiple Delivery Methods in Last-Mile Delivery for Online Shopping

2021 ◽  
pp. 036119812110363
Author(s):  
Jianhui Du ◽  
Xu Wang
Keyword(s):  
Urban Areas ◽  
Online Shopping ◽  
Evaluation Criteria ◽  
Real Life ◽  
Matching Model ◽  
Delivery Methods ◽  
Analytic Hierarchy ◽  
Last Mile ◽  
Delivery Services ◽  
Last Mile Delivery

Against the background of e-commerce, online shopping has seen considerable growth in China, as in the rest of the world. The last mile of delivery services for online shopping is a logistics challenge that affects service performance. This study has two main aims: first, to construct an evaluation criteria system for last-mile delivery service; and second to propose a matching model, capable of ranking six delivery methods according to customer preferences in the different urban areas. The factors base is established from the literature and from questionnaires and interviews with experts. Moreover, by conducting a questionnaire with consumers and analyzing the data, this research identifies the top 15 factors. The matching model based on the fuzzy analytic hierarchy process is constructed to compute the weight of each factor. The collection of data on customer preference was performed in distinct urban areas. Finally, to illustrate the validity of the criteria factors and the matching model, it was applied to three districts in Chongqing in China. Finally, our theoretical results from the experiments in real-life instances show that the criteria system and the matching model could help express companies to identify appropriate delivery methods in specific areas.

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