IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/retrec/v87y2021ics0739885919303294.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

E-groceries: Sustainable last mile distribution in city planning

Author

Listed:
  • Bjørgen, Astrid
  • Bjerkan, Kristin Ystmark
  • Hjelkrem, Odd Andre

Abstract

E-grocery is developing into a frequent and prominent form of online shopping. While some empirical studies suggest that online shopping substitutes personal shopping travel, others indicate a limited or no impact on number of trips and travel distance. Mobility for passengers and freight is one of the key issues in integrated planning in urban areas, and the growth of e-commerce and home deliveries is likely to affect the structure and performance of the urban freight chain. This study explores the use of home delivery services through a survey among Norwegian users of services connected to food and groceries. The study draws on insight from the survey to discuss how city municipalities can integrate trends of urbanisation and digitalisation into planning for sustainable mobility and efficient urban freight transport. A prominent finding is that home delivery of food and groceries is associated with fewer trips to physical grocery stores and reduced car use on these trips. In considering implications for city planning, several strategies and potential instruments are presented and discussed.

Suggested Citation

  • Bjørgen, Astrid & Bjerkan, Kristin Ystmark & Hjelkrem, Odd Andre, 2021. "E-groceries: Sustainable last mile distribution in city planning," Research in Transportation Economics, Elsevier, vol. 87(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:retrec:v:87:y:2021:i:c:s0739885919303294
    DOI: 10.1016/j.retrec.2019.100805
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0739885919303294
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.retrec.2019.100805?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Roland Hischier, 2018. "Car vs. Packaging—A First, Simple (Environmental) Sustainability Assessment of Our Changing Shopping Behaviour," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(9), pages 1-12, August.
    2. Rotem-Mindali, Orit, 2010. "E-tail versus retail: The effects on shopping related travel empirical evidence from Israel," Transport Policy, Elsevier, vol. 17(5), pages 312-322, September.
    3. Laetitia Dablanc & Scott Ogilvie & Anne Goodchild, 2014. "Logistics Sprawl: Differential Warehousing Development Patterns in Los Angeles and Seattle," Post-Print hal-00944130, HAL.
    4. Yu Ding & Huapu Lu, 2017. "The interactions between online shopping and personal activity travel behavior: an analysis with a GPS-based activity travel diary," Transportation, Springer, vol. 44(2), pages 311-324, March.
    5. May, Anthony D. & Kelly, Charlotte & Shepherd, Simon, 2006. "The principles of integration in urban transport strategies," Transport Policy, Elsevier, vol. 13(4), pages 319-327, July.
    6. Cherrett, Tom & Allen, Julian & McLeod, Fraser & Maynard, Sarah & Hickford, Adrian & Browne, Mike, 2012. "Understanding urban freight activity – key issues for freight planning," Journal of Transport Geography, Elsevier, vol. 24(C), pages 22-32.
    7. Jesse W.J. Weltevreden & Ton Van Rietbergen, 2007. "E‐Shopping Versus City Centre Shopping: The Role Of Perceived City Centre Attractiveness," Tijdschrift voor Economische en Sociale Geografie, Royal Dutch Geographical Society KNAG, vol. 98(1), pages 68-85, February.
    8. Sendy Farag & Jesse Weltevreden & Ton van Rietbergen & Martin Dijst & Frank van Oort, 2006. "E-Shopping in the Netherlands: Does Geography Matter?," Environment and Planning B, , vol. 33(1), pages 59-74, February.
    9. Banister, David, 2011. "Cities, mobility and climate change," Journal of Transport Geography, Elsevier, vol. 19(6), pages 1538-1546.
    10. Suel, Esra & Polak, John W., 2017. "Development of joint models for channel, store, and travel mode choice: Grocery shopping in London," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 99(C), pages 147-162.
    11. Maria Lindholm, 2013. "Urban freight transport from a local authority perspective – a literature review," European Transport \ Trasporti Europei, ISTIEE, Institute for the Study of Transport within the European Economic Integration, issue 54, pages 1-3.
    12. Jianqiang Cui & Jago Dodson & Peter V. Hall, 2015. "Planning for Urban Freight Transport: An Overview," Transport Reviews, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 35(5), pages 583-598, September.
    13. Evert‐Jan Visser & Martin Lanzendorf, 2004. "Mobility And Accessibility Effects Of B2c E‐Commerce: A Literature Review," Tijdschrift voor Economische en Sociale Geografie, Royal Dutch Geographical Society KNAG, vol. 95(2), pages 189-205, April.
    14. Orit Rotem-Mindali & Jesse Weltevreden, 2013. "Transport effects of e-commerce: what can be learned after years of research?," Transportation, Springer, vol. 40(5), pages 867-885, September.
    15. Bjørgen, Astrid & Seter, Hanne & Kristensen, Terje & Pitera, Kelly, 2019. "The potential for coordinated logistics planning at the local level: A Norwegian in-depth study of public and private stakeholders," Journal of Transport Geography, Elsevier, vol. 76(C), pages 34-41.
    16. Hull, Angela, 2008. "Policy integration: What will it take to achieve more sustainable transport solutions in cities," Transport Policy, Elsevier, vol. 15(2), pages 94-103, March.
    17. Roel Gevaers & Eddy Van de Voorde & Thierry Vanelslander, 2011. "Characteristics and Typology of Last-mile Logistics from an Innovation Perspective in an Urban Context," Chapters, in: Cathy Macharis & Sandra Melo (ed.), City Distribution and Urban Freight Transport, chapter 3, Edward Elgar Publishing.
    18. Zhou, Yiwei & Wang, Xiaokun (Cara), 2014. "Explore the relationship between online shopping and shopping trips: An analysis with the 2009 NHTS data," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 70(C), pages 1-9.
    19. Eléonora Morganti & Laetitia Dablanc & François Fortin, 2014. "Final deliveries for online shopping: the deployment of pickup point networks in urban and suburban areas," Post-Print hal-01067223, HAL.
    20. Marcucci, Edoardo & Le Pira, Michela & Gatta, Valerio & Inturri, Giuseppe & Ignaccolo, Matteo & Pluchino, Alessandro, 2017. "Simulating participatory urban freight transport policy-making: Accounting for heterogeneous stakeholders’ preferences and interaction effects," Transportation Research Part E: Logistics and Transportation Review, Elsevier, vol. 103(C), pages 69-86.
    21. Banister, David, 2008. "The sustainable mobility paradigm," Transport Policy, Elsevier, vol. 15(2), pages 73-80, March.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Waßmuth, Katrin & Köhler, Charlotte & Agatz, Niels & Fleischmann, Moritz, 2023. "Demand management for attended home delivery—A literature review," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 311(3), pages 801-815.
    2. Vyt, Dany & Jara, Magali & Mevel, Olivier & Morvan, Thierry & Morvan, Nélida, 2022. "The impact of convenience in a click and collect retail setting: A consumer-based approach," International Journal of Production Economics, Elsevier, vol. 248(C).
    3. Dany Vyt & Magali Jara & Olivier Mevel & Thierry Morvan & Nélida Morvan, 2022. "The impact of convenience in a click and collect retail setting: A consumer-based approach," Post-Print halshs-03624658, HAL.
    4. Yu, Vincent F. & Aloina, Grace & Eccarius, Timo, 2023. "Adoption intentions of home-refill delivery service for fast-moving consumer goods," Transportation Research Part E: Logistics and Transportation Review, Elsevier, vol. 171(C).
    5. Valentas Gruzauskas & Aurelija Burinskiene & Andrius Krisciunas, 2023. "Application of Information-Sharing for Resilient and Sustainable Food Delivery in Last-Mile Logistics," Mathematics, MDPI, vol. 11(2), pages 1-21, January.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Beckers, Joris & Cárdenas, Ivan & Verhetsel, Ann, 2018. "Identifying the geography of online shopping adoption in Belgium," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 45(C), pages 33-41.
    2. Bjørgen, Astrid & Seter, Hanne & Kristensen, Terje & Pitera, Kelly, 2019. "The potential for coordinated logistics planning at the local level: A Norwegian in-depth study of public and private stakeholders," Journal of Transport Geography, Elsevier, vol. 76(C), pages 34-41.
    3. Shi, Kunbo & De Vos, Jonas & Cheng, Long & Yang, Yongchun & Witlox, Frank, 2021. "The influence of the built environment on online purchases of intangible services: Examining the mediating role of online purchase attitudes," Transport Policy, Elsevier, vol. 114(C), pages 116-126.
    4. Shi, Kunbo & De Vos, Jonas & Yang, Yongchun & Witlox, Frank, 2019. "Does e-shopping replace shopping trips? Empirical evidence from Chengdu, China," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 122(C), pages 21-33.
    5. Mateos-Mínguez, Paloma & Arranz-López, Aldo & Soria-Lara, Julio A. & Lanzendorf, Martin, 2021. "E-shoppers and multimodal accessibility to in-store retail: An analysis of spatial and social effects," Journal of Transport Geography, Elsevier, vol. 96(C).
    6. Jiwu Wang & Xuewei Hu & Chengyu Tong, 2021. "Urban Community Sustainable Development Patterns under the Influence of COVID-19: A Case Study Based on the Non-Contact Interaction Perspective of Hangzhou City," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(6), pages 1-20, March.
    7. Xi, Guangliang & Cao, Xinyu & Zhen, Feng, 2020. "The impacts of same day delivery online shopping on local store shopping in Nanjing, China," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 136(C), pages 35-47.
    8. Alexander Rossolov & Halyna Rossolova & José Holguín-Veras, 2021. "Online and in-store purchase behavior: shopping channel choice in a developing economy," Transportation, Springer, vol. 48(6), pages 3143-3179, December.
    9. Yu Ding & Huapu Lu, 2017. "The interactions between online shopping and personal activity travel behavior: an analysis with a GPS-based activity travel diary," Transportation, Springer, vol. 44(2), pages 311-324, March.
    10. Shi, Kunbo & Shao, Rui & De Vos, Jonas & Cheng, Long & Witlox, Frank, 2021. "Is e-shopping likely to reduce shopping trips for car owners? A propensity score matching analysis," Journal of Transport Geography, Elsevier, vol. 95(C).
    11. Shah, Harsh & Carrel, Andre L. & Le, Huyen T.K., 2021. "What is your shopping travel style? Heterogeneity in US households’ online shopping and travel," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 153(C), pages 83-98.
    12. Ni, Linglin & Wang, Xiaokun (Cara) & Zhang, Dapeng, 2016. "Impacts of information technology and urbanization on less-than-truckload freight flows in China: An analysis considering spatial effects," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 92(C), pages 12-25.
    13. Kunbo Shi & Long Cheng & Jonas De Vos & Yongchun Yang & Wanpeng Cao & Frank Witlox, 2021. "How does purchasing intangible services online influence the travel to consume these services? A focus on a Chinese context," Transportation, Springer, vol. 48(5), pages 2605-2625, October.
    14. Weltevreden, Jesse W.J. & Rotem-Mindali, Orit, 2009. "Mobility effects of b2c and c2c e-commerce in the Netherlands: a quantitative assessment," Journal of Transport Geography, Elsevier, vol. 17(2), pages 83-92.
    15. Kim, Woojung & Wang, Xiaokun Cara, 2022. "The adoption of alternative delivery locations in New York City: Who and how far?," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 158(C), pages 127-140.
    16. Lindholm, Maria & Behrends, Sönke, 2012. "Challenges in urban freight transport planning – a review in the Baltic Sea Region," Journal of Transport Geography, Elsevier, vol. 22(C), pages 129-136.
    17. Pernot, Delphine, 2021. "Internet shopping for Everyday Consumer Goods: An examination of the purchasing and travel practices of click and pickup outlet customers," Research in Transportation Economics, Elsevier, vol. 87(C).
    18. Limon Barua & Bo Zou & Yan Zhou & Yulin Liu, 2023. "Modeling household online shopping demand in the U.S.: a machine learning approach and comparative investigation between 2009 and 2017," Transportation, Springer, vol. 50(2), pages 437-476, April.
    19. Ralph Hippe & Damien Demailly & Claude Diebolt, 2022. "The Digital Transition for a Sustainable Mobility Regime? A Long-Run Perspective," Working Papers of BETA 2022-19, Bureau d'Economie Théorique et Appliquée, UDS, Strasbourg.
    20. Qing Zhai & Xinyu Cao & Patricia L. Mokhtarian & Feng Zhen, 2017. "The interactions between e-shopping and store shopping in the shopping process for search goods and experience goods," Transportation, Springer, vol. 44(5), pages 885-904, September.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    e-groceries; Home delivery; Sustainability; Travel behaviour; Policy;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • R41 - Urban, Rural, Regional, Real Estate, and Transportation Economics - - Transportation Economics - - - Transportation: Demand, Supply, and Congestion; Travel Time; Safety and Accidents; Transportation Noise
    • R58 - Urban, Rural, Regional, Real Estate, and Transportation Economics - - Regional Government Analysis - - - Regional Development Planning and Policy

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:retrec:v:87:y:2021:i:c:s0739885919303294. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/wps/find/journaldescription.cws_home/620614/description#description .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.