A study of the last-mile e-commerce logistics (consumer-to-consumer e-commerce)

Abstract

Heightened trends of e-commerce retailing have spurred online purchasing by consumers. As such, the final distribution of goods plays an increasingly vital role in the e-commerce logistics chain, especially so with rising consumer expectations and logistics constraints such as failed deliveries and small- volume deliveries. This has incited greater challenges in the last-mile portion of the logistics chain where goods are moved from the last upstream segment of the logistics chain to the final delivery destination. This report studies the last-mile fulfilment of Consumer-to-Consumer (C2C) e-commerce transactions. This is part of a set of three reports that seek to examine the last-mile e-commerce logistics environment of different business models including Business-to-Business and Business-to-Consumer e-commerce.

The report identifies various trends in last-mile e-commerce transactions including crowd-sourced logistics and automation and analyses the operations of such delivery modes. Subsequently, via literature review and a survey conducted, challenges and expectations of consumers as buyer and seller were gathered. It was found that difficulties in arranging meet-ups, lack of transparency and delayed deliveries are significant factors in hindering last-mile logistics of C2C e-commerce transactions. Additionally, consumers valued convenience, reliability and low costs the most when choosing the last- mile delivery mode. Following which, prospects of various delivery configurations are evaluated based on the aforementioned criteria and the ability to target arising problems faced by C2C e-commerce consumers.

The report also recognises the relevance of parcel types and logistics preferences in determining the suitability of delivery modes, in the perspective of a C2C setting. While delivery modes such as on- demand courier deliveries are fast, reliable and convenient, it may be considerably less attractive to consumers when transacting a low-valued item as delivery costs may take up a high percentage of the value of the item. Hence, consumers will need to balance their interests to determine the optimal choice of delivery mode.