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In France, e-commerce has experienced steady growth over the past decade. A striking aspect is that it is now widespread among different segments of the population, including suburban and rural households. This growth has generated significant demand for dedicated delivery services to end consumers. Pickup points (PP) represent a fast-growing alternative to home delivery, accounting for about 20% of parcel deliveries to households. The article focuses on the strategy of PP network operators. Our results are threefold. We have documented the recent development of alternative parcel delivery services to e-shoppers in Europe, and especially in France. We have described how the operators have decided to organize their PP network, identifying main variables and constraints. We have provided an analysis of the spatial distribution of PPs in France. The paper shows that at the French national level, PPs are now a well established alternative to home deliveries and their presence covers urban, suburban and rural areas. While PP density in remote areas decreases faster than population density, rural e-consumers' accessibility to PP sites has reached a viable level. Furthermore, PP delivery services generate new types of B2B freight trips that are not yet included in current urban freight models.

This exploratory paper contributes to a new body of research that investigates the potential of digital market places to disrupt transport and mobility services. We are specifically looking at the urban freight sector, where numerous app-based services have emerged in recent years. The paper specifically looks at 'instant deliveries,' i.e. services providing on-demand delivery within two hoursby either private individuals, independent contractors, or employeesby connecting consignors, couriers and consignees via a digital platform. The paper provides an overview of the main issues concerning instant deliveries, supported by data (including a survey of 96 courier delivery providers) and examples. After presenting a typology of companies (digital platforms) involved in 'instant deliveries,' we question in what way they transform the urban freight current patterns. We highlight four issues, discussing their potential to impact urban freight services and related policies in European cities: 1) Freight trips and data; 2) Business models; 3) Labor legislation and work conditions; and 4) Local public policies. We conclude by saying that predicting the medium-term consequences of these changes is difficult, but it is essential that city planning and policies take account of these developments and consider how planning and possibly regulation needs to be adapted to these new ways of doing things.

The problems related to home delivery become increasingly evident with the growth of electronic commerce. Automatic delivery stations represent a solution to reduce mislaid deliveries and consolidate parcels drop-off, minimizing the kilometers traveled, and the costs of urban goods distribution. In order to better understand online shoppers' attitudes towards new delivery services, we analyze the potential demand of automatic delivery stations (lockers) in the city of Belo Horizonte, Brazil. For this purpose, we develop a survey according to stated preference and revealed preference methods, and we assess potential users considering two 1 Corresponding autor deliveries services: home delivery and automated delivery stations. The results indicate that, although home delivery is the preferred option, automatic delivery stations score high potential demand for online shoppers. This paper provides an approach to integrate the impact of final consumers' preferences on shaping last-mile operations, and it thus helps policymakers to identify the most suitable innovations to specific urban settings.

Since the mid-1990s European urban freight transport has undergone several major changes with direct impact on vehicle use patterns. These include (i) freight vehicle downsizing and (ii) the dieselisation of van fleets (formally referred to as light commercial vehicles or LCVs) More recently, a new possible trend has started to emerge, mainly related to alternative fuelled LCVs for reducing air pollution emissions in urban areas. Electric LCVs up to 3.5 tons are considered a suitable option for last mile operations, yet only a few last mile operators are replacing their diesel fleets with electric vans. In order to probe electric LCV acceptance in the freight transport sector, we conducted 15 experimentoriented interviews with urban freight transport and service operators who tested and adopted electric vans, exploring technical and operational obstacles in daily operations in Paris and London. Additional interviews (8) have been conducted with policymakers, to update the initial survey. The results show that, in addition to range concerns issues, last mile operators' perception and acceptance of electric vans are affected by other concerns, such as queue, payload and grid anxieties. A number of financial and non-financial incentives for fostering the adoption of electric vans are identified and compared by considering the cities of Paris and London. The research also explored potential policy tools for mitigating the barriers to adoption that had been identified.

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This paper analyzes last mile logistics for fresh food products and the food deliveries schemes to urban food outlets, i.e. corporate retail chains, independent retailers and hotel, restaurants and catering (Ho.Re.Ca.) sector. We present two concepts: that of food hub and that of last food mils, as well as an analysis framework to understand food last mile distribution. To illustrate it, two experiences of urban food distribution are compared to a reference situation using the proposed framework. Résumé Cet article analyse la logistique du dernier kilomètre pour les produits frais, dans les différents secteurs impliqués, i.e. grande distribution organisée, commerces indépendants et secteur de la restauration. Nous présentons deux concepts : celui du pole alimentaire et celui du dernier kilomètre alimentaire, ainsi qu'un cadre d'analyse pour comprendre la distribution alimentaire en ville. Pour l'illustrer, deux expériences de logistique alimentaire urbaine sont comparés à une situation de référence, en utilisant la méthode proposée.