E-commerce and last mile delivery technologies in the European countries

Abstract

Society, companies and institutions are involved in a digital transformation that can be pervaded in various industries or sectors, and this also applies to communication, sales and distribution channels. The possibilities of e-commerce have also increased and world trade has been further developed. In 2020, more than two billion people bought goods or services over the Internet. Customer satisfaction depends on the solution of the last mile process, the method of picking up shipments as well as the time and place of picking up the shipment. The most common forms of off-premises delivery are automated parcel locker or machine (APM) and pick-up and drop-off delivery (PUDO). The aim of the paper is to analyse the level of the PUDO and APM network in European countries and in the V4 countries with regard to the size of the country and the population. For this purpose, it was necessary to focus on determining the population per 1 PUDO and the number of inhabitants per 1 APM in individual European countries and subsequently in the V4 countries. The obtained data were processed and recalculated in Excel. The results showed that within European countries the best values were achieved by Finland with 526 inhabitants per 1 PUDO and Spain with 188 inhabitants per 1 APM. Regarding the V4 countries, the Czech Republic achieved the best value in the case of inhabitants on PUDO with 729 inhabitants per 1 PUDO and in the case of APM Poland with 3,184 inhabitants per 1 APM.

Towards Achieving Customer Satisfaction in Last Mile Delivery for E-commerce Sector: A MCDM Approach

“…In a big data analysis of 54250 customer reviews of Meituan China [1], it was suggested that maintaining high levels of service at the contact point in the distribution link is a major requirement towards achieving overall customer satisfaction. Out-of-home delivery enhances the customer experience by using an automated parcel locker or machine (APM) and pick-up and drop-off delivery (PUDO) to reduce the overall cost of delivery and inventory storage in the event of a missed delivery in the European context [2]. Another study adds the aspects of delivery time window and customer satisfaction to the travelling salesman problem in the case of deliveries by unmanned aerial vehicles.…”

Last Mile and its Latest Changes in Express, Courier and Postal Services Bound to E-commerce

“…Subsequently, those vehicles are mostly constructed to reduce the impact on environment of the region while lessening time spent on delivery. [19]…”

“…Among other things, the younger generation is influenced by the desire to use greener forms of transport, both delivery with the aim of reducing environmental impact. [6], [9], [19], [20] Some advantages of drone delivery are displayed in the Table 2. There are shown some benefits as well as either possible impacts or threats of specified aspects from the perspective of authors of this paper.…”

“…This, however, does not necessarily concern each e-shop as some guarantee full recharge, shall the customer not be happy with received goods. [19] Although the quality of a product sold through an e-shop is not directly related to the last mile, it can influence the demand for the products of that e-shop. As the e-shop cooperates with a postal operator operating the last mile, this may lead to a decrease in demand for the postal operator's services due to a decrease in the e-shop's customers.…”

Proposal of the E-Services Quality Scale – Preliminary Results

“…Currently, e-commerce is the most common form of trade, and it is expected to be the primary sales strategy for both retail and wholesale businesses in the near future. The growing popularity and global success of e-commerce have also transformed existing support and distribution structures (Corejova et al, 2022). It allows customers to purchase goods from different parts of the world regardless of their current location.…”