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

Olsson, John LU ; Hellström, Daniel LU and Pålsson, Henrik LU (2019) In Sustainability 11(24).
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... (More)
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. (Less)
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author
; and
organization
publishing date
type
Contribution to journal
publication status
published
subject
keywords
Last Mile Logistics, Systematic Review, Business Logistics, Omni-Channel, Retail, B2C
in
Sustainability
volume
11
issue
24
article number
7131
publisher
MDPI AG
external identifiers
  • scopus:85083386299
ISSN
2071-1050
DOI
10.3390/su11247131
project
Towards zero emission last mile distribution in omni-channel retail
language
English
LU publication?
yes
id
f366cd91-d041-4831-b460-16c36615931a
date added to LUP
2019-12-12 15:11:33
date last changed
2023-04-10 05:05:10
@article{f366cd91-d041-4831-b460-16c36615931a,
  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.}},
  author       = {{Olsson, John and Hellström, Daniel and Pålsson, Henrik}},
  issn         = {{2071-1050}},
  keywords     = {{Last Mile Logistics; Systematic Review; Business Logistics; Omni-Channel; Retail; B2C}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  month        = {{12}},
  number       = {{24}},
  publisher    = {{MDPI AG}},
  series       = {{Sustainability}},
  title        = {{Framework of Last Mile Logistics Research: A Systematic Review of the Literature}},
  url          = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/su11247131}},
  doi          = {{10.3390/su11247131}},
  volume       = {{11}},
  year         = {{2019}},
}