Academic literature on the topic 'B2C last-mile deliveries'

Purpose The purpose of this paper is twofold: first, to review and classify scientific publications dealing with those innovative solutions aimed at increasing the efficiency of last-mile delivery in business to consumer (B2C) e-commerce; and, second, to outline directions for future research in this field. Design/methodology/approach The review is based on 75 papers published between 2001 and 2019 in international peer-reviewed journals or proceedings of conferences, retrieved from bibliographic databases and science search engines. Findings Due to its importance in affecting the overall logistics costs and, as a consequence, the economic sustainability of a B2C e-commerce initiative, last-mile delivery process deserves particular attention in order to be optimised. The review highlights that, among the main factors affecting its cost, there are the probability to have failed deliveries, the customer density in the delivery areas and the degree of automation of the process. Innovative and viable last-mile delivery solutions – which may impact the mentioned drivers – include parcel lockers, crowdsourcing logistics, mapping the consumer presence at home and dynamic pricing policies. Eventually, some gaps and areas for further research activities have been identified (e.g. mapping customer behaviour, crowdsourcing logistics). Originality/value This review offers interesting insights to both academics and practitioners. On the academic side, it analyses and classifies relevant literature about innovative and efficiency-oriented last-mile delivery solutions, proposing directions for future research efforts. On the managerial side, it presents a holistic framework of the main factors affecting last-mile delivery cost and of viable innovative solutions that may be implemented to increase efficiency.

Parcel logistics in urban areas are characterized by many carriers undertaking similar activity patterns at the same times of day. Using substantial carrier manifest datasets, this paper demonstrates advantages from rival carriers collaborating using a “carrier’s carrier” operating model for their last-mile parcel logistics operations. Under these circumstances, a single carrier undertakes all the deliveries within a defined area on behalf of the carriers instead of them working independently. Modelling the daily delivery activity of five parcel carriers working over a 3.7 km2 area of central London, comprising around 3000 items being delivered to around 900 delivery locations, and consolidating their activity through a single carrier suggested that time, distance and associated vehicle emissions savings of around 60% could be achieved over the current business-as-usual operation. This equated to a reduction in the number of delivery vans and drivers needed from 33 to 13, with annual savings of 39,425 h, 176,324 km driven, 52,721 kg CO2 and 56.4 kg NOx. Reliance on vans and associated vehicle emissions could be reduced further by using cargo cycles alongside vans for the last-mile delivery, with estimated annual emissions savings increasing to 72,572 kg CO2 and 77.7 kg NOx. The results indicated that consolidation of items for delivery in this way would be especially beneficial to business-to-consumer (B2C) carriers whose parcel profiles comprise relatively small and light items. One of the key barriers to the wider take up of such services by individual carriers is the loss of individual brand identity that can result from operating through a carrier’s carrier.

Business to consumer e-commerce (B2C) has increased sharply in recent years driven by a growing online population and changes in consumer behavior. In metropolitan areas, the “Amazon effect” (online retailers’ vast selection, fast shipping, free returns, and low prices) has led to an increased use of light goods vehicles. This is affecting the rational functioning of the transport system, including a high degree of fragmentation, low load optimization, and, among other externalities, higher traffic congestion. This paper investigates the potential of a metro system, in a big city like Madrid, to provide delivery services by leveraging its existing carrying capacity and using the metro stations to collect parcels in lockers. It would be a new mixed distribution model for last-mile deliveries associated with e-commerce. To that end, the paper evaluates the cost and impacts of two alternative scenarios for managing the unused space in rolling stock (shared trains) or specific full train services (dedicated trains) on existing lines. The external costs of the proposed scenarios are compared with current e-commerce delivery scenario (parcel delivery by road). The results show that underground transport of parcels could significantly reduce congestion costs, accidents, noise, GHG emissions, and air pollution.

This paper aims at understanding and evaluating the environmental and economic impacts of a crowdshipping platform in urban areas. The investigation refers to the city of Rome and considers an environmental-friendly crowdshipping based on the use of the mass transit network of the city, where customers/crowdshippers pick-up/drop-off goods in automated parcel lockers located either inside the transit stations or in their surroundings. Crowdshippers are passengers that would use the transit network anyhow for other activities (e.g., home-to-work), thus avoiding additional trips. The study requires firstly, estimating the willingness to buy a crowdshipping service like the one proposed here, in order to quantify the potential demand. The estimation is realized adopting an extensive stated preference survey and discrete choice modeling. Then, several scenarios with different features of the service are proposed and evaluated up to 2025 in terms of both externalities (local and global pollutant emissions, noise emissions and accidents reductions) and revenues. The results are useful to understand and quantify the potential of this strategy for last mile B2C deliveries. Moreover, it provides local policy-makers and freight companies with a good knowledge base for the future development of a platform for public transport-based crowdshipping and for estimating the likely impact the system could have both from an economic and environmental point of view.

Background: The last-mile logistics of the supply chain is often the most expensive part for an e-commerce retailer. It is also according to Lim and Srai (2018) where the consumers are the most demanding. It is no longer exclusively the e-commerce retailers’ job to choose the delivery method of the parcel they are sending out to their customer. As a consumer in Sweden today, you will often get the option to choose how you want your online order to be delivered. The result of consumers wanting to have more of a say in how their parcel is delivered is that the carrier companies now compete for the opportunity to deliver parcels (Post- och telestyrelsen 2020).  Purpose: This master’s thesis has as a purpose to investigate what reasoning there is behindthe choices the actors in B2C last-mile delivery make when it comes to their offerings ofdelivery options, and their chosen strategy. As e-commerce retailing has grown in hugeproportions during the last decades, there will also be a focus on what the industry mightdevelop into, as this will have an impact on the actors in the industry. There is a lack of insightinto the subject of this study, i.e. how e-commerce retailers and parcel carriers tackle theconstantly changing world of last-mile logistics. To help answer the purpose of the master’sthesis, literature on last-mile parcel delivery was compiled together with theories such as agencytheory, co-opetition, dynamic capabilities, and transaction cost analysis. Research questions: What should the different actors in B2C last-mile delivery take intoaccount when developing their parcel delivery strategy? What will the future of B2C parceldeliveries look like according to the different actors in B2C last-mile delivery? Methodology: The study used a qualitative method with an abductive reasoning. Thequalitative method that was used for collecting the data was qualitative semi-structuredinterviews. As this master’s thesis has a focus on the actors in B2C last-mile delivery, theinterviews were conducted with professionals within the e-commerce retailing, parcel carrier,and last-mile logistics industry. Conclusion: The study then concludes that the e-commerce retailer will try to adapt theirdelivery offerings based on what the consumers wish, and to be able to do this, the e-commerceretailer need to be flexible in their offerings. The parcel carriers need to keep in mind that theyhave a dependency towards the e-commerce retailers. The option of co-opetition is alsosomething that they should consider. It is important for the last-mile logistics companies to beaware of all this as they are working with both e-commerce retailers and parcel carriers. Thefindings of the study show that many believe that the future of parcel delivery will be to useparcel lockers. What needs to be kept in mind is that it is important for the consumer to be ableto choose when, where, and how their parcel is delivered. This master’s thesis can be used bye-commerce retailers, parcel carriers, and last-mile logistics companies, to gain insight intowhat the parcel delivery market looks like today, and what is important for all actors on it.