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1 – 10 of 304Jiunn-Woei Lian, Chih-Teng Chen, Li-Fang Shen and Hung-Ming Chen
The purpose of this study is to explore the critical factors that affect users’ acceptance and usage intention toward blockchain-based smart lockers.
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this study is to explore the critical factors that affect users’ acceptance and usage intention toward blockchain-based smart lockers.
Design/methodology/approach
The research is designed in two phases. In the first phase, the key stakeholders are interviewed. Participants include managers from technology providers and logistics companies. In the second phase, a questionnaire survey is used to validate the proposed model.
Findings
Based on the final results, this study makes the following three suggestions. First, perceived usefulness and perceived ease of use are the critical factors. In other words, it is important to emphasize the function and convenience of a new service when introducing it to a potential user. Second, safety is not the major concern when using a blockchain-based smart locker. This means that users will trust the service provider for providing a secure service. Users do not worry about the security problem. Finally, the network externality of smart locker is also insignificant.
Originality/value
This study has three major contributions. First, this study identifies the critical factors that will affect user acceptance of blockchain-based smart lockers. Next, this study combines the opinions from service providers and users to understand the gap between different stakeholders. Finally, this study can enrich our understanding on the applications of blockchain from a managerial perspective and not only from a technical perspective, as in most previous studies.
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Marcel Peppel, Stefan Spinler and Matthias Winkenbach
The e-commerce boom presents new challenges for last-mile delivery (LMD), which may be mitigated by new delivery technologies. This paper evaluates the impact of mobile parcel…
Abstract
Purpose
The e-commerce boom presents new challenges for last-mile delivery (LMD), which may be mitigated by new delivery technologies. This paper evaluates the impact of mobile parcel lockers (MPL) on costs and CO2 equivalent (CO2e) emissions in existing LMD networks, which include home delivery and shipments to stationary parcel lockers.
Design/methodology/approach
To describe customers’ preferences, we design a multinomial logit model based on recipients’ travel distance to pick-up locations and availability at home. Based on route cost estimation, we define the operating costs for MPLs. We devise a mathematical model with binary decision variables to optimize the location of MPLs.
Findings
Our study demonstrates that integrating MPLs leads to additional cost savings of 8.7% and extra CO2e emissions savings of up to 5.4%. Our analysis of several regional clusters suggests that MPLs yield benefits in highly populous cities but may result in additional emissions in more rural areas where recipients drive longer distances to pick-ups.
Originality/value
This paper designs a suitable operating model for MPLs and demonstrates environmental and economic savings. Moreover, it adds recipients’ availability at home to receive parcels improving the accuracy of stochastic demand. In addition, MPLs are evaluated in the context of several regional clusters ranging from large cities to rural areas. Thus, we provide managerial guidance to logistics service providers how and where to deploy MPLs.
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Xueqin Wang, Yiik Diew Wong and Kum Fai Yuen
The advent of digitalization and the trend of social distancing coincide with the individualized lifestyle that is emerging among contemporary shoppers. This study explores the…
Abstract
Purpose
The advent of digitalization and the trend of social distancing coincide with the individualized lifestyle that is emerging among contemporary shoppers. This study explores the unique market of “smart solo shoppers”. Two empirical studies are conducted, which aim to identify the major dimensions of multi-channel shopping activities that are engaged by the shoppers (Study 1, n = 64) and to differentiate the shoppers' valuation of time invested in the distinct dimensions under different cultural influences (Study 2, n = 519).
Design/methodology/approach
A survey questionnaire is used for data collection, and data are analyzed using structural equation modeling.
Findings
Results reveal that the shopping activities converge into four principal dimensions: offline shopping, online shopping, post-shopping delivery and product return activities. Shoppers who perceive offline shopping activities as a time burden and online shopping and delivery activities as venues of value creation are more strongly self-identified as smart solo shoppers. Furthermore, smart solo shoppers who are under a strong influence of individualistic culture are found to spend time on multi-channel shopping to make the right purchase the first time, whereas shoppers perceiving being in a weak individualistic culture prefer to engage online channels while being prepared to return the unwanted purchases.
Originality/value
This study highlights an emerging research field in the nexus of solo consumption and smart shopping. Emphasizing the utility-driven and ego-expressive nature of smart solo shoppers, the authors provide an initial profile of these shoppers based on their time-valuation patterns and the contextual impacts of individualistic culture.
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Rico Merkert, Michiel C.J. Bliemer and Muhammad Fayyaz
The purpose of this research is to reveal consumer preferences towards innovative last-mile parcel delivery and more specifically unmanned aerial delivery drones, in comparison to…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this research is to reveal consumer preferences towards innovative last-mile parcel delivery and more specifically unmanned aerial delivery drones, in comparison to traditional postal delivery (postie) and the recent rise of parcel lockers in Australia. The authors investigate competitive priorities and willingness to pay for key attributes of parcel delivery (mode, speed, method and time window), the role of contextual moderators such as parcel value and security and opportunities for logistics service providers in the growing e-commerce market.
Design/methodology/approach
A survey involving stated choice experiments has been conducted among 709 respondents in urban Australia. The authors estimated panel error component logit models, derived consumer priorities and deployed 576 Monte Carlo simulations to forecast potential delivery mode market shares.
Findings
The study results suggest that people prefer postie over drone delivery, all else equal, but that drone deliveries become competitive with large market shares if they live up to the premise that they can deliver faster and cheaper. Both drone and postie become less attractive relative to parcel lockers when there is no safe place to leave a parcel at a residence, highlighting the importance of situational context and infrastructure at the receiving end of last-mile delivery. The authors identified opportunities for chargeable add-on services, such as signature for postie and 2-h parcel deliveries for drones.
Originality/value
The authors offer timely and novel insights into consumers preferences towards aerial drone parcel deliveries compared to postie and lockers. Going beyond the extant engineering/operations research literature, the authors provide a starting point and add new dimensions/moderators for last-mile parcel delivery choice analysis and empirical evidence of market potential and competitive attributes of innovative versus traditional parcel delivery alternatives.
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Sabina Riboldazzi and Antonella Capriello
The predominant role played by large-scale retailers in consumer goods markets has led to substantial changes in the promotion and advertising flows of companies operating in this…
Abstract
The predominant role played by large-scale retailers in consumer goods markets has led to substantial changes in the promotion and advertising flows of companies operating in this sector. Manufacturing companies are in fact investing an increasingly larger share of their resources in communication strategies managed by retailers by way of in-store communications, taking advantage of both traditional and digital media. As a result, besides being a place of purchase, the point of sale has become an environment where customer relationships are being built and developed over time. In this book chapter, we take a closer look at current in-store communications via cutting-edge digital media solutions designed to boost customer experience and brand loyalty. To gain a better understanding of these new forms of communication, we have also conducted a qualitative case study on “The Supermarket of the Future,” a new retail format recently launched by Coop Italia in Milan, using data from different sources, including internal and external document reviews and in-store observations. Overall, this study outlines an innovative customer relationship format consistent with an omni-channel approach and informative in-store communications integrating traditional and new digital media.
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Marcel Peppel and Stefan Spinler
Last-mile delivery is associated with a negative environmental impact and high costs. The purpose of this paper is to develop an approach to designing stationary parcel locker…
Abstract
Purpose
Last-mile delivery is associated with a negative environmental impact and high costs. The purpose of this paper is to develop an approach to designing stationary parcel locker (SPL) networks while minimizing both CO2 equivalent (CO2e) emissions and costs during delivery and pick-up.
Design/methodology/approach
This study uses a multinomial logit model to evaluate recipients' willingness to use SPLs based on their availability at home and travel distance. To determine optimal SPL locations, this study formulates a mixed-integer linear programming model.
Findings
The empirical study of different regional clusters reveals that optimal SPL locations can generate cost savings of up to 11.0%. SPLs have a positive impact on total CO2e emission savings in urban areas (i.e. up to 2.5%), but give rise to additional emissions (i.e. 4.6%) in less populated areas due to longer travel distances during the pick-up process.
Originality/value
This paper optimizes SPL locations and the ecological effect of SPLs by minimizing emissions and costs simultaneously. Furthermore, it extends existing discrete choice models by also including recipients' availability at home, increasing the accuracy of recipients' preferences. So far, the effect of SPLs has been studied for metropolitan areas only. A global logistics service provider shared a real dataset which allows us to study seven different regional clusters ranging from rural areas to large cities. Thus, this study contributes to the field of sustainable urban logistics.
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Arianna Seghezzi, Chiara Siragusa and Riccardo Mangiaracina
This paper investigates the economic performances of two business-to-consumer (B2C) e-commerce last-mile delivery options –parcel lockers (PLs) and traditional home delivery (HD…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper investigates the economic performances of two business-to-consumer (B2C) e-commerce last-mile delivery options –parcel lockers (PLs) and traditional home delivery (HD) in contexts where e-commerce is still at its early stages. It analyses and compares two different implementation contexts, urban and rural areas.
Design/methodology/approach
This study develops an analytical model that estimates delivery costs for both the PL and HD options. The model is applied to two base cases (representative of urban and rural areas in Italy), and sensitivity analyses are subsequently performed on a set of key variables/parameters (i.e. PL density, PL fill rate and PL annual costs). To support the model development and application, interviews with practitioners (Edwards et al., 2011) were performed.
Findings
PLs imply lower delivery cost than HD, independently from the implementation area (urban or rural): advantages mainly derive from the higher delivery density and the drastic reduction of failed deliveries. Benefits entailed by PLs are more significant in rural areas due to lower PL investments and annual costs, as well as higher HD costs.
Originality/value
This paper offers insights to both academics and practitioners. On the academic side, it develops a model to compare the delivery cost of PL and HD, which includes the analysis of urban and rural contexts. This could serve as a platform for developing/informing future analytical/optimisation contributions. On the managerial side, it may support practitioners in making decisions about the implementation of PLs and HD, to benchmark their costs and to identify the main variables and parameters at play.
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Zuopeng Xiao, James J. Wang and Qian Liu
The purpose of this paper is to examine the effects of final delivery solutions on e-shopping usage behaviour by modelling their interaction across residents living in different…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to examine the effects of final delivery solutions on e-shopping usage behaviour by modelling their interaction across residents living in different neighourhoods with availabilities of different facilities, including automated parcel stations (APSs), collection and delivery points (CDPs), and the direct-to-home delivery stations of parcel express firms (PEFs).
Design/methodology/approach
The study is based on a survey on e-shopping behaviour and delivery awareness. A mixed structural equation model is used to predict the interactions among availability of final delivery facilities (AFDF), level of satisfaction with delivery services and e-shopping usage after controlling individual socioeconomic attributes and retail environment.
Findings
Compared with AFDF, individual socioeconomic attributes are the most influential factors contributing to e-shopping spending and frequency. Improving AFDF has only a slight effect on e-shopping spending, while a larger impact on e-shopping frequency and perceived satisfaction to delivery services is observed. The quantity of PEF delivery stations has a relatively large influence on e-shopping usage but the effects of APSs and CDPs are not as strong as expected.
Research limitations/implications
The causality between final delivery solutions and e-shopping behaviour can be further tested by using social experiments or longitudinal data.
Practical implications
All findings will help business and public policy decision makers to derive a balanced and effective deployment of final delivery solutions, which is also referential for other emerging markets similar to China.
Originality/value
This study theoretically contributes to the international literature by examining the heterogeneous effects of final delivery solutions on different aspects of e-shopping engagement.
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