Search results

E-fulfillment has a significant role to play within e-tailing, which provides products to a customer, comprising primarily of five components: website quality, customization strategy, distribution strategy, last mile delivery and return management. The purpose of this paper is to provide an e-fulfillment performance evaluation framework for an e-tailer, considering the different performance aspects of information systems (IS), marketing and operations for e-tailers.

Since quite a few performance aspects (i.e. IS, marketing system and operations) need to be factored in while evaluating the e-fulfillment performance, it may be considered as a complex multi-criteria decision-making problem. This study used decision-making trial and evaluation laboratory (DEMATEL) based analytic network process (DANP) to investigate the relationship between performance class and performance aspects, and calculated their weights. These designated weights of performance aspects help managers to find the important aspects needing improvement. The understanding of the interrelationship among the performance aspects enables managers to improve the efficiency of an e-tailing system.

This study provides the e-fulfillment performance evaluation framework to find the important aspects requiring improvement. The results of this study reveal that the important performance aspects of e-fulfillment performance are return policy, pickup method, innovativeness, assortment type, assortment width, trust (privacy and security) and promised delivery date.

This e-fulfillment performance evaluation could be used by an e-tailer to assess the e-fulfillment performance, and identify areas of improvement.

This study makes a contribution to the present body of knowledge by considering operations related performance aspects except the IS and marketing to evaluate the e-fulfillment performance.

Recent supply chain literature are mainly concentrated on the quality of conventional supply chain information systems, the study on the e‐fulfillment has not been visibly noticeable. This paper uses factor analysis to determine four e‐fulfillment success factors: information quality, service quality, system quality, and work performance quality. Later, this paper uses discriminant analysis method to identify the key e‐fulfillment practices that the high satisfaction group would emphasize more than the low satisfaction group. A critical analysis of areas that require the improvement is also discussed.

The purpose of this paper is to understand the dimensions of the e-fulfillment process and its influence on customers in pure e-tailing; to classify the pertinent literature that has evolved over time addressing relevant managerial issues; and to identify the gaps between the practices prevalent in the e-fulfillment and those suggested by academicians to develop insights for future research.

A critical systemic literature review approach was used for the study with quantitative and qualitative analysis.

The authors identified seven dimensions of e-fulfillment in the literature on pure e-tailing: e-business quality, product quality, pricing, availability, timeliness, condition and ease of return and explored its linkages with shopping satisfaction and repurchase intention of customers in e-tailing.

The study was skewed toward an empirical approach. The study does not include many of the analytical models in this space.

This study helps e-tailers, academicians and practitioners understand critical dimensions of e-fulfillment and its influence on customers in the pure e-tailing setting in order to design customer-centric e-fulfillment architecture.

The study identified seven dimensions of e-fulfillment in the literature and explored its influence on shopping satisfaction and repurchase intention of customers in pure e-tailing. This is the first compilation of standalone/isolated studies available in the literature to provide e-tailers and academicians meaningful insights into e-fulfillment in the pure e-tailing setting.

The purpose of this paper is to derive monetary benchmarks and managerial implications for omni-channel retailers’ B2C e-fulfillment strategies by investigating the trade-offs between lead time, delivery convenience and total price including shipment in the context of online electronics retailing.

Based on a choice-based conjoint analysis among 550 US online shoppers, the monetary values of lead time and convenience were calculated in a log-log regression model. In addition, latent class segmentation was applied to identify consumer segments according to their differing e-fulfillment preferences.

From a consumer perspective, the analysis suggests that price is the most important criteria in omni-channel retailer selection, followed by lead time and convenience. The value of time is, on average, $3.61 per day. Regarding convenience, the results indicate that delivery to the home is highly preferred over pick-up options. The value of the consumer’s travel time was estimated at $10.62 per hour. The latent class segmentation identified four segment groups with different preferences.

To validate the findings, future research could analyze real data from omni-channel retailers’ customers’ buying behavior. It should also be interesting to extend the research to other price ranges, market segments and e-fulfillment factors, such as return options, shop ratings and membership programs aiming for further generalization.

The findings guide omni-channel retailers to focus on efficient B2C e-fulfillment strategies. Considerable competitive advantages may be gained by reducing lead times and offering convenient delivery in line with the lead time valuation of the identified customer segment.

This study fills gaps in the academic research of consumer behavior in retailer selection, which has primarily concentrated on the choice between “brick-and-mortar” and online sales channels. It paves the way for a more service-oriented perspective in omni-channel retailing research.

The purpose of this paper is to expand existing research on fulfillment systems for multi-channel retailers by combining analysis of customer expectation (CE) with economic performance (EP) aspects.

This exploratory study is based on a literature review of supply chain management and marketing combined with the results of an online questionnaire submitted to French and Chinese multi-channel retailers from two sectors.

The results enable the authors to identify 13 important key performance indicators (KPIs) used by multi-channel retailers for measuring e-fulfillment system performance and also to determine under which of the EP or CE criteria these KPIs might be linked.

Although the sample size is limited, this research is intended to be exploratory, based on the practices of supply chain and marketing managers. Moreover, the results do not address interdependencies among the different KPIs.

E-fulfillment is a major challenge for multi-channel retailers; it is cost intensive and critical for customer satisfaction. The identified set of KPIs enables retailers to choose those relevant to their particular infrastructure.

A limited number of scholarly works have explored the operational implications of online retailing in terms of e-fulfillment in a multi-channel context. In order to manage such supply chains efficiently and effectively, traditional measures of supply chain performance need to be adapted. This study expands existing knowledge by developing measurement systems and metrics for the evaluation of supply chain performance in this context.

An e‐fulfillment system is designed to meet the high order volume and stringent customer service requirements of global business‐to‐consumer e‐commerce. The system converts the traditional warehouse into a multi‐channel e‐fulfillment center. In the e‐commerce environment, some of the toughest decisions must be made on little or no hard information. In this study, the nature of e‐business and the typical fulfillment process are discussed. The authors further examine the strategy and operational requirements for e‐fulfillment. This article is concluded with the implication of a successful e‐fulfillment system, a suggested design of an e‐fulfillment center, and the future research focuses.

Given the progressive growth of e-commerce sales and the rising interest in omni-channel (OC) retailing amongst academics and practitioners, the purpose of this paper is to provide an up-to-date literature review on the logistics involved when moving towards OC retailing. Specifically, we have examined the main issues relating to e-fulfilment and distribution, highlighting how the topic has been developed over time, and identifying the most promising research streams for the near future.

A systematic literature review methodology is adopted. The review is based on 58 papers published from 2002 to 2017 in 34 international journals. The papers were analysed and categorised according to their defining characteristics, methodologies adopted and themes addressed.

This paper provides an overview of the main issues relating to e-fulfilment and distribution experienced by companies shifting towards OC, mapped along three dimensions: distribution network design, inventory and capacity management, delivery planning and execution. Despite the growing interest in OC retailing, many key topics are still under-represented, including the evolution of retail distribution networks, assortment planning over multiple channels, the logistics role played by stores in the delivery process and the interplay between different logistics aspects.

The paper offers insights into the main logistics issues in MC and OC retailing, as well as highlights potential fields for further investigation. From a managerial perspective, this paper is useful for retailers adopting an OC approach to guide their future efforts concerning their business logistics model.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate how e‐grocers develop their e‐fulfillment strategies to satisfy product‐specific customer needs for their grocery shopping on the internet. Findings from this paper are used to propose sustainable e‐fulfillment strategies for online grocery retailers.

Based on metrics of product information, customer service and e‐business quality, this paper conducted web content analyses of US grocery retailers in a longitudinal manner.

The research findings delineate a significant transition of e‐fulfillment strategies among grocery retailers. Evidence is found for the development of service metrics as well as strategic shifts in retail operations.

The use of a longitudinal approach provides insights into sustainable marketing strategies for online retailers to enhance consumers' perceived relative advantage and compatibility, and reduce perceived complexity in online grocery shopping.

The growth in online shopping has presented challenges for physical distribution service quality (PDSQ) provided by retailers, including both multi‐channel and pure players, and logistics service providers (LSPs). Issues emerging from a consumer survey regarding electronic physical distribution service quality (e‐PDSQ) informed this paper's research, which aims to consider this phenomenon.

The research study employed qualitative interviews with retailers, logistics service providers and experts to consider the consumer survey findings and discuss the current market situation and suggestions for improvement.

Interviewees confirmed that pure players offer better e‐PDSQ than multi‐channel retailers as well as important constructs of availability, time, condition and returns regarding this phenomenon, but also raised issues of relationships between retailers and LSPs and costs regarding service trade‐offs.

The research undertaken was exploratory and will require further and wider testing in other contexts and geographical areas to assure external validity.

The findings have strategic importance for online retailers and LSPs to achieve competitive advantage and offer superior customer service.

This paper extends earlier, limited work on e‐PDSQ and considers retailer and LSP points of view concerning previous research into consumer expectations and perceptions of e‐PDSQ.

The purpose of this paper is to analyse the interaction of two topics: supply chain management (SCM) and the internet. Merging these two fields is a key area of concern for contemporary managers and researchers. They have realised that the internet can enhance SCM by making real time information available and enabling collaboration between trading partners.

A literature review in prestigious academic journals in Operations Management and Logistics has been conducted for the period 1995‐2005. The objective is to collect, organise and synthesise existing knowledge relating to SCM and the internet.

The paper describes the impact that the internet has on the different processes that SCM embrace. The literature review undertaken on the topic has shown that e‐SCM has been acknowledged as an outstanding topic in the supply chain literature in the most prestigious operations management and logistics journals, especially after year 2000. The main topics have been e‐procurement, e‐fulfilment and information flows.

The value of this paper is to define e‐SCM, to analyse how research in this area has evolved during the period 1995‐2005 and to identify some lines of further research.