IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/transa/v199y2025ics0965856425002083.html

Willingness to pay for sustainable delivery: Evidence from young consumers in Italy and Norway

Author

Listed:
  • Biancolin, Marta
  • Rotaris, Lucia
  • Pernot, Delphine

Abstract

The exponential growth of online shopping has created new operational and environmental challenges for last-mile distribution. Despite growing concerns about the environmental impact of e-commerce, little is known about consumers’ willingness to pay (WTP) to reduce last-mile delivery emissions. This paper estimates WTP for offsetting delivery emissions, considering factors such as shopping habits, attitudinal influences, and country-specific preferences. A contingent valuation (CV) survey was conducted with 3,791 respondents in Italy and Norway—two countries with differing levels of environmental consciousness and social responsibility—and a hybrid mixed logit model (HMXL) was used to estimate WTP. The results show that frequent online shoppers are more likely to pay to reduce delivery emissions, with WTP varying by socio-demographic characteristics and types of products purchased online. Belief in societal environmental responsibility significantly influences WTP, especially among Norwegian respondents. Additionally, awareness of the environmental damage caused by delivery emissions plays a crucial role in shaping the WTP. To our knowledge, this is the first study to estimate the WTP for offsetting last-mile delivery emissions using CV and HMXL, comparing countries with differing environmental sensitivities. These findings offer valuable insights for e-retailers seeking strategies to reduce last-mile emissions and for policymakers promoting sustainable urban freight distribution.

Suggested Citation

  • Biancolin, Marta & Rotaris, Lucia & Pernot, Delphine, 2025. "Willingness to pay for sustainable delivery: Evidence from young consumers in Italy and Norway," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 199(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:transa:v:199:y:2025:i:c:s0965856425002083
    DOI: 10.1016/j.tra.2025.104580
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0965856425002083
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.tra.2025.104580?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

    for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Anne Büttgen & Belma Turan & Vera Hemmelmayr, 2021. "Evaluating Distribution Costs and CO 2 -Emissions of a Two-Stage Distribution System with Cargo Bikes: A Case Study in the City of Innsbruck," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(24), pages 1-19, December.
    2. Elisabetta Strazzera & Riccardo Scarpa & Pinuccia Calia & Guy Garrod & Kenneth Willis, 2003. "Modelling zero values and protest responses in contingent valuation surveys," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 35(2), pages 133-138.
    3. Schmidt, Sebastian & Saraceni, Adriana, 2024. "Consumer acceptance of drone-based technology for last mile delivery," Research in Transportation Economics, Elsevier, vol. 103(C).
    4. Christoph Kerner & Thomas Brudermann, 2021. "I Believe I Can Fly—Conceptual Foundations for Behavioral Rebound Effects Related to Voluntary Carbon Offsetting of Air Travel," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(9), pages 1-11, April.
    5. Daniel McFadden, 1986. "The Choice Theory Approach to Market Research," Marketing Science, INFORMS, vol. 5(4), pages 275-297.
    6. Ben-Akiva, Moshe & McFadden, Daniel & Train, Kenneth & Börsch-Supan, Axel, 2002. "Hybrid Choice Models: Progress and Challenges," Sonderforschungsbereich 504 Publications 02-29, Sonderforschungsbereich 504, Universität Mannheim;Sonderforschungsbereich 504, University of Mannheim.
    7. Valerio Gatta & Edoardo Marcucci & Marialisa Nigro & Sergio Maria Patella & Simone Serafini, 2018. "Public Transport-Based Crowdshipping for Sustainable City Logistics: Assessing Economic and Environmental Impacts," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(1), pages 1-14, December.
    8. Oliveira, Leise Kelli de & Morganti, Eleonora & Dablanc, Laetitia & Oliveira, Renata Lúcia Magalhães de, 2017. "Analysis of the potential demand of automated delivery stations for e-commerce deliveries in Belo Horizonte, Brazil," Research in Transportation Economics, Elsevier, vol. 65(C), pages 34-43.
    9. Rafael Villa & Marta Serrano & Tomás García & Gema González, 2023. "To Green or Not to Green: The E-Commerce-Delivery Question," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(16), pages 1-21, August.
    10. Gabriele Iannaccone & Edoardo Marcucci & Valerio Gatta, 2021. "What Young E-Consumers Want? Forecasting Parcel Lockers Choice in Rome," Logistics, MDPI, vol. 5(3), pages 1-16, August.
    11. repec:xrs:meawpa:02009 is not listed on IDEAS
    12. Maya Abou-Zeid & Moshe Ben-Akiva, 2014. "Hybrid choice models," Chapters, in: Stephane Hess & Andrew Daly (ed.), Handbook of Choice Modelling, chapter 17, pages 383-412, Edward Elgar Publishing.
    13. Cintia Machado de Oliveira & Renata Albergaria De Mello Bandeira & George Vasconcelos Goes & Daniel Neves Schmitz Gonçalves & Márcio De Almeida D’Agosto, 2017. "Sustainable Vehicles-Based Alternatives in Last Mile Distribution of Urban Freight Transport: A Systematic Literature Review," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 9(8), pages 1-15, July.
    14. Prencipe, Luigi Pio & Colovic, Aleksandra & Binetti, Mario & Ottomanelli, Michele, 2024. "Zero-emission vehicle adoption towards sustainable e-grocery last-mile delivery," Research in Transportation Economics, Elsevier, vol. 104(C).
    15. Liebe, Ulf & Glenk, Klaus & Oehlmann, Malte & Meyerhoff, Jürgen, 2015. "Does the use of mobile devices (tablets and smartphones) affect survey quality and choice behaviour in web surveys?," Journal of choice modelling, Elsevier, vol. 14(C), pages 17-31.
    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. Feng, Siqi & Daziano, Ricardo A. & Schumacher, Kathryn M. & Sadek, Bassel A., 2026. "Modeling EV charging behavior with hybrid choice models," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 203(C).

    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. Magdalena Mucowska, 2021. "Trends of Environmentally Sustainable Solutions of Urban Last-Mile Deliveries on the E-Commerce Market—A Literature Review," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(11), pages 1-26, May.
    2. Marley, A.A.J. & Swait, J., 2017. "Goal-based models for discrete choice analysis," Transportation Research Part B: Methodological, Elsevier, vol. 101(C), pages 72-88.
    3. Samani, Ali Riahi & Talebian, Ahmadreza & Mishra, Sabyasachee & Golias, Mihalis, 2025. "Evaluating consumer shopping, delivery demands, and last-mile preferences: An integrated MDCEV-HCM approach," Transportation Research Part E: Logistics and Transportation Review, Elsevier, vol. 197(C).
    4. Dayal, Eshwar & Khuntia, Lisa & Lakshay, Lakshay & Buldeo Rai, Heleen & Pani, Agnivesh, 2025. "Behavioral intention to use parcel lockers in the last mile and underlying linkages with travel modal choice," Research in Transportation Economics, Elsevier, vol. 111(C).
    5. Akinwehinmi, Oluwagbenga & Ogundari, Kolawole & Amos, Taiwo, 2021. "Consumers' Food Control Risk Perception and Preference for Government-Controlled Safety Certification in Emerging Food Markets," 2021 Conference, August 17-31, 2021, Virtual 315312, International Association of Agricultural Economists.
    6. Daziano, Ricardo A., 2015. "Inference on mode preferences, vehicle purchases, and the energy paradox using a Bayesian structural choice model," Transportation Research Part B: Methodological, Elsevier, vol. 76(C), pages 1-26.
    7. Sina Mohri, Seyed & Ghaderi, Hadi & Van Woensel, Tom & Mohammadi, Mehrdad & Nassir, Neema & Thompson, Russell G., 2024. "Contextualizing alternative delivery points in last mile delivery," Transportation Research Part E: Logistics and Transportation Review, Elsevier, vol. 192(C).
    8. Leung, Abraham & Lachapelle, Ugo & Burke, Matthew, 2023. "Spatio-temporal analysis of Australia Post parcel locker use during the initial system growth phase in Queensland (2013–2017)," Journal of Transport Geography, Elsevier, vol. 110(C).
    9. Scorrano, Mariangela & Danielis, Romeo, 2021. "Active mobility in an Italian city: Mode choice determinants and attitudes before and during the Covid-19 emergency," Research in Transportation Economics, Elsevier, vol. 86(C).
    10. Joan L. Walker & Moshe Ben-Akiva, 2011. "Advances in Discrete Choice: Mixture Models," Chapters, in: André de Palma & Robin Lindsey & Emile Quinet & Roger Vickerman (ed.), A Handbook of Transport Economics, chapter 8, Edward Elgar Publishing.
    11. Hess, Stephane & Spitz, Greg & Bradley, Mark & Coogan, Matt, 2018. "Analysis of mode choice for intercity travel: Application of a hybrid choice model to two distinct US corridors," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 116(C), pages 547-567.
    12. Marisdea Castiglione & Antonio Comi & Rosita De Vincentis & Andreea Dumitru & Marialisa Nigro, 2022. "Delivering in Urban Areas: A Probabilistic-Behavioral Approach for Forecasting the Use of Electric Micromobility," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(15), pages 1-13, July.
    13. Ricardo Daziano & Denis Bolduc, 2013. "Covariance, identification, and finite-sample performance of the MSL and Bayes estimators of a logit model with latent attributes," Transportation, Springer, vol. 40(3), pages 647-670, May.
    14. Haghani, Milad & Bliemer, Michiel C.J. & Hensher, David A., 2021. "The landscape of econometric discrete choice modelling research," Journal of choice modelling, Elsevier, vol. 40(C).
    15. Montero-Vega, Mariana & Estrada, Miquel & Thigulla, Divya Teja, 2025. "Understanding the impact of socio-demographic differences on acceptance of last-mile delivery technologies: A comparative analysis," Journal of Transport Geography, Elsevier, vol. 126(C).
    16. Rossolov, Oleksandr & Susilo, Yusak O., 2024. "Are consumers ready to pay extra for crowd-shipping e-groceries and why? A hybrid choice analysis for developing economies," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 187(C).
    17. Akshay Vij & Stephane Hess, 2025. "Posterior inference of attitude-behaviour relationships using latent class choice models," Papers 2509.08373, arXiv.org, revised Apr 2026.
    18. Fernández-Antolín, Anna & Guevara, C. Angelo & de Lapparent, Matthieu & Bierlaire, Michel, 2016. "Correcting for endogeneity due to omitted attitudes: Empirical assessment of a modified MIS method using RP mode choice data," Journal of choice modelling, Elsevier, vol. 20(C), pages 1-15.
    19. Kemperman, Astrid, 2021. "A review of research into discrete choice experiments in tourism: Launching the Annals of Tourism Research Curated Collection on Discrete Choice Experiments in Tourism," Annals of Tourism Research, Elsevier, vol. 87(C).
    20. Rotaris, Lucia & Giansoldati, Marco & Scorrano, Mariangela, 2021. "The slow uptake of electric cars in Italy and Slovenia. Evidence from a stated-preference survey and the role of knowledge and environmental awareness," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 144(C), pages 1-18.

    More about this item

    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
    • D12 - Microeconomics - - Household Behavior - - - Consumer Economics: Empirical Analysis
    • H41 - Public Economics - - Publicly Provided Goods - - - Public Goods

    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:transa:v:199:y:2025:i:c:s0965856425002083. 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/547/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.