The Impact of E-Commerce-Related Last-Mile Logistics on Cities: A Systematic Literature Review

Abstract

E-commerce-related last-mile logistics have a great impact on cities. Recent years have seen sustained growth in e-commerce in most developed countries, a trend that has only been reinforced by the COVID-19 pandemic. The perceived impact of this phenomenon varies depending upon the perspective of the players involved: individual members of the public, companies, or the public administrations. Tackling the issue from these perspectives, the goal of this article is to explore the kinds of impact this phenomenon has and will have. We use as the basis for their classification the so-called triple bottom line (TBL) of sustainability, encompassing people, planet, and profit; we complement this with the impact classification used by the European Science Foundation’s impact assessment working group. After performing a systematic review of the literature following PRISMA guidelines, our results show that, albeit to different degrees, the four impact dimensions analyzed (economic, social, environmental, and technological) have only received incipient coverage in the existing literature. Given its ever-growing importance, we believe that greater attention needs to be paid to this phenomenon, especially with regard to those aspects having the greatest impact upon urban systems and the different stakeholders involved. Only in this way can the public policies needed to mitigate these externalities be properly implemented.

A study on the influential factors of the last mile delivery projects during Covid-19 era

“…Viu-Roig and Alvarez-Palau ( 2020 ) have dealt with e-commerce which is related to last mile logistics. In recent years, e-commerce has experienced rapid growth, a development that would be compounded by the impact of Covid-19, which has resulted in an increase in the purchase of internet pack.…”

“…The structure of e-commerce markets are transformed over the period of Covid-19 era and online sales gradually increased (Kim 2020 ). The resultant, last mile delivery projects managers are facing many challenges to deliver huge quantities of products to their customers door step and adhering the Covid-19 precautionary and contactless delivery (Viu-Roig and Alvarez-Palau 2020 ).…”

Sustainable Management for Fresh Food E-Commerce Logistics Services

“…Among them, the last-mile logistics distribution of items within the city has become a particularly critical issue in the overall logistics development of the city [10]. At present, research on the last-mile logistics services in e-commerce focuses on the following: (1) changes in consumer habits and behavior led by last-mile delivery and aspects that impact the urban public environment, and residents' health and quality of life; (2) the cost of the urban freight distribution system and the potential optimization aspects to make it more effective; and (3) research on the impact of last-mile logistics on the development of technology applications in cities [13].…”

E-commerce effects for the sustainable development goals

“…However, if that distance increases, the cars' emissions they are likely to use to travel to the store will exceed the emissions produced by the carrier, making online shopping more sustainable. Last mile logistics are becoming increasingly important with the growth of e-commerce, thus leading to inevitable changes in the functioning of modern cities and the potential consequences cannot be ignored [8,9]. E-commerce can be influenced not only by Internet companies but by consumers themselves [10].…”