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.
Highlights
Recent years have seen a huge expansion in e-commerce, with high growth rates of up to two digits in most developed countries
The state of the art regarding the impact of e-commerce-related last-mile logistics on cities shows that, not all of the impact types have received the same degree of treatment in literature, all four dimensions have been at least partially covered
Our analysis reveals that lockers, pickup points, and mobile depots can have a positive impact from a number of perspectives and for all the stakeholders involved in urban logistics
Summary
Recent years have seen a huge expansion in e-commerce, with high growth rates of up to two digits in most developed countries. This, added to the fact that public policy on this issue is still at an early stage, could lead to tensions in many cities, those with the most congested transport networks This boom in e-commerce can provide businesses with an expanded customer base and new opportunities to increase their market due to the resultant economies of scale [5], making the tackling of this issue all the more vital. There is even an upward trend for click-and-collect options, allowing the consumer to Sustainability 2020, 12, 6492 buy online but pick up the product from the retailer in person Providing such services efficiently is becoming extremely difficult due to its increased complexity, dynamics, and uncertainty [20]
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