Framework of Last Mile Logistics Research: A Systematic Review of the Literature

Abstract

Coincident with the rapid growth of omni-channel retailing, growing urbanization, changing consumer behavior, and increasing focus on sustainability, academic interest in the area of last mile logistics has significantly increased. The growth in academic publications has been tremendous, with three out of four articles appearing within the past five years. The influx of research spans multiple disciplines and various methodologies, underlining the complexity and fragmentation of last mile logistics research, which leads to a lack of unity in the understanding of the concept. We provide a systematic review and classification of the literature to provide a more coherent view of last mile logistics research. The review covers 155 peer-reviewed journal publications focusing on last mile logistics. Findings demonstrate that the literature embraces a diversity of aspects and facets that are classified into five themes: emerging trends and technologies, operational optimization, supply chain structures, performance measurement, and policy. Further, we propose a framework of last mile logistics literature that comprises five components and their interrelationships, namely, last mile logistics, last mile distribution, last mile fulfillment, last mile transport, and last mile delivery. The results provide a foundation for further development of this research area by proposing avenues for future research.

Innovation Mode and Optimization Strategy of B2C E-Commerce Logistics Distribution under Big Data

“…Moons et al [36] proposed an integrated order picking-vehicle routing method based on record-to-record travel algorithm. Olsson et al [37] provided a more consistent view for the logistics research. Zhong et al [38] proposed a distribution decision making method without cooperative mode.…”

An Examination of Last Mile Delivery Practices of Freight Carriers Servicing Business Receivers in Inner-City Areas

“…Moreover, Buldeo Rai et al imply that there might be a great deal of uncertainty about the vehicle fill rate (load utilisation) in last mile delivery activities [8]. Additionally, the systematic review of the literature on last mile delivery presented in [14] highlights that collecting direct insights using surveys from the freight industry was considerably overlooked compared to applying modelling and simulation approaches.…”

An Analysis on Tradable Permit Models for Last-Mile Delivery Drones

“…The importance of LMD services is increasing, especially considering times where social distance is a must [2]. Many recent studies appoint last-mile as one of the most expensive, inefficient, and polluting parts of the supply chain, reaching about 13-75% of the total supply chain cost [3]. Besides, this is also a concern for major retailers, such as Amazon, Walmart, and Alibaba.…”

“…explicits the average and variance of the relative cost for airspaces concerning the dimensions(10,10,3) and(15, 15, 3).…”