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Using taxis to collect citywide E-commerce reverse flows: a crowdsourcing solution

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  • Chao Chen
  • Shenle Pan
  • Zhu Wang
  • Ray Y. Zhong

Abstract

The popularity of round-the-clock online shopping urges the rapid growth of e-commerce, which substantially generates additional parcels for the distribution on the forward side. On the other hand, collecting the returned goods on the revere side is also increasingly becoming a preoccupation, particularly in the crowd and dense metropolitan areas. Inspired by the concepts of Crowdsourcing and Physical Internet, we propose an innovative solution to collect the e-commerce returned goods from final consumption points back to retailers. As an alternative to traditional ways, this solution delivers the returned goods and passengers in an integrated way by leveraging the extra loading capacity and constant mobility provided by taxis that are already reserved to transport passengers. Thus, it could simultaneously migrate the negative economical, environmental and social impacts of reverse flows management. To address the issue of the returned goods collection, we first conduct the qualitative and quantitative study, and further investigate the feasibility and viability of the solution based on three real-world datasets, which consist of locations of shops, a road network and a large-scale trajectory data generated by over 7000 taxis in a month in the city of Hangzhou, China. Three collection strategies are proposed and evaluated. Experimental results generate several useful insights into the implementability and managerial issues of the proposed solution.

Suggested Citation

  • Chao Chen & Shenle Pan & Zhu Wang & Ray Y. Zhong, 2017. "Using taxis to collect citywide E-commerce reverse flows: a crowdsourcing solution," International Journal of Production Research, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 55(7), pages 1833-1844, April.
  • Handle: RePEc:taf:tprsxx:v:55:y:2017:i:7:p:1833-1844
    DOI: 10.1080/00207543.2016.1173258
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    Cited by:

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    2. Lin Zhou & Yanping Chen & Yi Jing & Youwei Jiang, 2021. "Evolutionary Game Analysis on Last Mile Delivery Resource Integration—Exploring the Behavioral Strategies between Logistics Service Providers, Property Service Companies and Customers," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(21), pages 1-18, November.
    3. Wenjie Wang & Lei Xie, 2022. "Optimal pricing of crowdsourcing logistics services with social delivery capacity," Journal of Combinatorial Optimization, Springer, vol. 43(5), pages 1447-1469, July.
    4. Nieto-Isaza, Santiago & Fontaine, Pirmin & Minner, Stefan, 2022. "The value of stochastic crowd resources and strategic location of mini-depots for last-mile delivery: A Benders decomposition approach," Transportation Research Part B: Methodological, Elsevier, vol. 157(C), pages 62-79.
    5. Wang, Xin & Huang, George Q., 2021. "When and how to share first-mile parcel collection service," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 288(1), pages 153-169.
    6. Seghezzi, Arianna & Siragusa, Chiara & Tumino, Angela & Mangiaracina, Riccardo, 2021. "Investigating the return cost for B2C e-commerce," Chapters from the Proceedings of the Hamburg International Conference of Logistics (HICL), in: Jahn, Carlos & Kersten, Wolfgang & Ringle, Christian M. (ed.), Adapting to the Future: Maritime and City Logistics in the Context of Digitalization and Sustainability. Proceedings of the Hamburg International Conf, volume 32, pages 169-192, Hamburg University of Technology (TUHH), Institute of Business Logistics and General Management.
    7. Xiao Lin & Yoshinari Nishiki & Lóránt A. Tavasszy, 2020. "Performance and Intrusiveness of Crowdshipping Systems: An Experiment with Commuting Cyclists in The Netherlands," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(17), pages 1-14, September.
    8. Yıldız, Barış, 2021. "Package routing problem with registered couriers and stochastic demand," Transportation Research Part E: Logistics and Transportation Review, Elsevier, vol. 147(C).
    9. Orenstein, Ido & Raviv, Tal, 2022. "Parcel delivery using the hyperconnected service network," Transportation Research Part E: Logistics and Transportation Review, Elsevier, vol. 161(C).
    10. Lafkihi, Mariam & Pan, Shenle & Ballot, Eric, 2019. "Freight transportation service procurement: A literature review and future research opportunities in omnichannel E-commerce," Transportation Research Part E: Logistics and Transportation Review, Elsevier, vol. 125(C), pages 348-365.
    11. Mashalah, Heider Al & Hassini, Elkafi & Gunasekaran, Angappa & Bhatt (Mishra), Deepa, 2022. "The impact of digital transformation on supply chains through e-commerce: Literature review and a conceptual framework," Transportation Research Part E: Logistics and Transportation Review, Elsevier, vol. 165(C).

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