Abstract
The development of rural e-commerce has rapidly driven the development of rural logistics in China. Improving the service quality of the last mile delivery is an important measure to promote the sustainable development of rural e-commerce logistics. However, such work is challenging because the current rural last mile delivery is inefficient and unsustainable and is influenced by a set of interacting factors. It is necessary to explore the relationships among the sustainability influencing factors of rural last mile delivery. A total of 15 sustainability influencing factors are selected. The improved fuzzy analytic hierarchy process (FAHP) is used to assign the weights of the factors and then the interpretative structural model (ISM) is used to determine the hierarchical structure of each factor. The driving force-dependency quadrant graph is constructed by cross-impact matrix multiplication (MICMAC). The research results show that four factors, including “convenience of returning goods”, “integrity of goods”, “advance reservation of goods pickup”, and “delivery costs”, are the most basic factors affecting the sustainability of rural last mile delivery and are the deepest and most indispensable factors. This research provides valuable information for decision makers to develop proactive strategies and reinforcement policies to improve the service quality of rural last mile delivery, which could promote the sustainable development of rural logistics.
Highlights
The development of rural e-commerce has rapidly driven the development of rural e-commerce logistics
The value S05, at the top level of the interpretative structural model (ISM), is the most direct factor affecting the sustainable development of rural last mile delivery and has weak driver power but strong dependence
Understanding the inherent properties of sustainability influencing factors of rural last mile delivery is conducive to retaining a high level of sustainable development
Summary
The development of rural e-commerce has rapidly driven the development of rural e-commerce logistics. The policy support for the development of rural e-commerce logistics has continuously increased and the rural e-commerce logistics distribution network has gradually formed. The following problems exist: The distribution network has little coverage, the distribution speed is slow, the logistics information level is low, the logistics cost is high, and the e-commerce logistics activities have adverse effects on the rural environment. In the last mile delivery of rural e-commerce logistics systems, sustainability is achieved through different approaches and involves strengthening infrastructure and information construction, reducing logistics costs, energy conservation, environmental protection, and integrating e-commerce and logistics. Sustainability refers to people, planets, and profits under which human beings and value exist in productive harmony with the social, environmental, and economic requirements of the current and generations [1,2]. Sustainability is mapped to Sustainability 2019, 11, 3937; doi:10.3390/su11143937 www.mdpi.com/journal/sustainability
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