Delivery Cost Research Articles

Abstract 7238: Exploring the potential of targeted DNA Nanobot delivery systems for gene delivery

Abstract Gene therapy is a cornerstone of modern medicine's quest for precision treatment to cure human disease including cancer. The current approach to gene delivery technology employs viral vector delivery systems. While effective, these vectors present significant challenges including immunogenicity, safety concerns due to off-target non-tissue specific delivery, payload limitations, and significant cost ultimately diluting their therapeutic potential. Thus, novel approaches to gene delivery are necessary. One such approach to address these critical limitations involves DNA Nanobots, a DNA-based nanotechnology that allows for a tissue-/target-cell specific gene delivery system. Utilizing DNA origami molecular assembly techniques, our DNA Nanobots offer a customizable and highly precise delivery platform, free from viral vector constraints. This innovative approach has the potential to transform the landscape of gene therapy by providing a safer, more efficient, and targeted alternative. Key technical advancements with our DNA Nanobots Gene Delivery Platform include: •CRISPR Cas-9 Integration: By incorporating CRISPR Cas-9 functional proteins, our nanobots were shown to enhance gene editing precision in primary human T cells, broadening therapeutic applications across various genetic conditions. •Targeted mRNA Delivery: Our nanobots revealed promising results in the targeted delivery of mRNA, vital for vaccine development and personalized treatments. •Efficient antisense/siRNA Delivery: Prior studies have overcome traditional challenges including endosomal escape and cytoplasmic entry, demonstrating effective siRNA delivery critical for gene silencing therapeutic development. In summary, DNA Nanobots mark a paradigm shift in gene therapy. Their ability to deliver various nucleic acids with high specificity and efficiency addresses many of the current methodological limitations especially off-target safety concerns and high cost. This advancement not only enhances the therapeutic index of existing treatments but also opens avenues for novel therapeutic strategies, potentially reshaping the future of molecular medicine and gene therapy. Citation Format: Melika Shahhoessini, Jeffrey R. Spitzner, Christopher R. Lucas, Carlos E. Castro, Patrick D. Halley. Exploring the potential of targeted DNA Nanobot delivery systems for gene delivery [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the American Association for Cancer Research Annual Meeting 2024; Part 1 (Regular Abstracts); 2024 Apr 5-10; San Diego, CA. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2024;84(6_Suppl):Abstract nr 7238.

Do women living in a deprived neighborhood have higher maternity care costs and worse pregnancy outcomes? A retrospective population-based study.

Living in a deprived neighborhood is associated with poorer health, due to factors such as lower socio-economic status and an adverse lifestyle. There is little insight into whether living in deprived neighborhood is associated with adverse maternity care outcomes and maternity health care costs. We expect women in a deprived neighborhood to experience a more complicated pregnancy, with more secondary obstetric care (as opposed to primary midwifery care) and higher maternity care costs. This study aimed to answer the following research question: to what extent are moment of referral from primary to secondary care, mode of delivery, (extreme or very) preterm delivery and maternity care costs associated with neighborhood deprivation? This retrospective cohort study used a national Dutch database with healthcare claims processed by health insurers. All pregnancies that started in 2018 were included. The moment of referral from primary to secondary care, mode of delivery, (extreme or very) preterm delivery and maternity care costs were compared between women in deprived and non-deprived neighborhoods. We reported descriptive statistics, and results of ordinal logistic, multinomial and linear regressions to assess whether differences between the two groups exist. Women in deprived neighborhoods had higher odds of being referred from primary to secondary care during pregnancy (adjusted OR 1.49, 95%CI 1.41-1.57) and to start their pregnancy in secondary care (adjusted OR 1.55, 95%CI 1.44-1.66). Furthermore, women in deprived neighborhoods had lower odds of assisted delivery than women in non-deprived neighborhoods (adjusted OR 0.73, 95%CI 0.66-0.80), and they had higher odds of a cesarean section (adjusted OR 1.19, 95%CI 1.13-1.25). On average, women in a deprived neighborhood had higher maternity care costs worth 156 euros (95%CI 104-208). This study showed that living in a deprived neighborhood is associated with more intensive maternal care and higher maternal care costs in the Netherlands. These findings support the needs for greater attention to socio-economic factors in maternity care in the Netherlands.

Delivery arrangement in online distribution channels under different power structures

Logistics delivery is a critical but costly operation in e-commerce. The e-retailer who sells products online may ask the supplier to ship products to customers, and the supplier responds by accepting or rejecting such a delivery proposal. Motivated by these observations, we consider an online distribution channel with two competing suppliers and one common e-retailer and analytically characterize the equilibrium delivery arrangement based on the nonlinear delivery cost in the E-retailer-Stackelberg, Supplier-Stackelberg, and Vertical-Nash games. Our analysis reveals that the market follower might be more willing to deliver products than the market leader in each Stackelberg game. Counterintuitively, the e-retailer prefers undertaking the delivery when there is a large delivery diseconomy under each power structure but prefers asking both suppliers to deliver products when there is a delivery economy (a small delivery diseconomy) in the E-retailer-Stackelberg and Vertical-Nash games (Supplier-Stackelberg game). The suppliers agree to ship products only when the delivery economy is apparent in the E-retailer-Stackelberg game but reject to do so in the Vertical-Nash game; in the Supplier-Stackelberg game, they accept the delivery proposal even though there is a significant delivery diseconomy. Although both suppliers can benefit from refusing to undertake the delivery when there is fierce competition in each Stackelberg game, interestingly, they still agree to do so and trap themselves in a prisoner's dilemma. In each Stackelberg game, only shifting the delivery responsibility to the suppliers might achieve a triple-win situation for the channel members, consumers, and society; in the Vertical-Nash game, however, this situation never occurs, and the consumer surplus and social welfare are invariant to the delivery arrangement.

The restaurant delivery problem with uncertain cooking time and travel time

Eliminating delays under uncertain delivery conditions presents a formidable challenge for meal delivery platforms. Nevertheless, by implementing effective measures, these platforms can successfully mitigate the impacts of uncertainties on delays. This paper introduces a scenario-based chance-constrained programming model tailored for meal delivery services with uncertain cooking time and travel time, ensuring a more accurate representation of real-world scenarios. The objective is to minimize the delivery cost while considering the decision preferences of a platform. To generate high-quality solutions, this work proposes a novel island harmony search algorithm that incorporates several key components, including greedy search, harmony selection, neighborhood reduction, island migration, and scenario-based simulation. Additionally, a matheuristic is introduced for the purpose of comparison. Comparative evaluation against a set of adopted benchmarks reveals the superior performance of both algorithms. A series of sensitivity analyses are conducted to explore the advantages of considering uncertainty, and investigate how decision preference values influence the feasibility of solutions for meal delivery platforms. The proposed formulation and algorithm yield high-quality solutions for delivery platforms with various preferences, facilitating decision-making that aligns with their operational context.

Impact of automated dispensing solutions in long-term care facilities and closed-door pharmacies: A mixed methods study of medication management

BackgroundFinancial, operational, and clinical workflow impacts of deploying an automated dispensing cabinet (ADC) in long-term care (LTC) facilities based on actual observations have not been documented in peer-reviewed literature. ObjectivesTo evaluate the impact of a closed-door pharmacy (CDP) implementing an ADC with unique secure, removable, and transportable locked pockets in an unstudied setting (LTC facilities) for management of first and emergency dose medications. Practice DescriptionThis study was conducted in 1 CDP and 2 LTC facilities. Practice InnovationEnhancing emergency medication management and inventory tracking in an unstudied setting through implementation of an ADC system featuring unique electronically encoded medication storage pockets that can be prepared in the CDP, locked and securely transported to the LTC, and when inserted into ADC it informs staff of its presence, position, and contents. Evaluation MethodsMixed methods, pre- and poststudy to assess the impact of replacing manual emergency medication kits with an ADC. Outcomes were evaluated using rapid ethnography with workflow modeling; inventory and delivery reports; a nursing perception survey; and transactional data from the ADC during postimplementation phase. ResultsPharmacy technician preparation time and pharmacist checking time decreased by 59% and 80%, respectively, and standing inventory was reduced by more than $10,000 combined for the CDP and 2 LTCs by replacing emergency medication kits with the ADC. In the LTCs, this change led to a 71% reduction in emergency medication retrieval time, an increase in emergency medication utilization, and a 96% reduction in the cost of unscheduled deliveries. Over 70% of the nurses surveyed favored replacement of the emergency medication kits with the ADC system. ConclusionReplacing manual emergency medication kit with the described ADC system improved workflow efficiency in the CDP and LTC. It also significantly reduced unscheduled (STAT) deliveries and standing inventory and increased the availability of medications commonly used.

A continuous approximation approach to integrated truck and drone delivery systems

Home package delivery by drones as an alternative or complement to traditional delivery by trucks is attracting considerable attention from the commercial sector as well as academia. While drone delivery may offer considerable benefits, the fundamental issues of how best to deploy drones for small package delivery are still not well understood. Unlike most studies in the literature that consider either truck-drone tandems or drone standalone delivery operations, our research provides a strategic analysis for the optimal design of an integrated drone delivery system in which customers in a service region can be served by a combination of truck-drone (TD) delivery, drone-only (DO) delivery, and truck-only (TO) delivery. We formulate and optimize continuous approximation models to identify the optimal delivery service combination that minimizes the total delivery costs including truck and drone operating and stop costs. We evaluate the impact of a wide range of operating characteristics and delivery environments on the optimal delivery system and the benefits of using drones. Our results suggest that an optimal delivery system design often uses a mix of DO and TD, but TD is the dominant delivery service in most scenarios. The magnitude of the cost savings afforded by the use of drones, relative to truck-only delivery, can be large but strongly depends on the values of key parameters.

РОЗРОБКА ТА РЕАЛІЗАЦІЯ ПРОЕКТУ МОДЕРНІЗАЦІЇ КОМПАНІЇ (НА ПРИКЛАДІ КОМПАНІЇ «КERNEL»)

Crucial logistical and export challenges, faced by agricultural producers in Ukraine, are described. Drawing on data from the Kernel company, one of the leading players in the agribusiness sector, internal strategies to overcome export barriers are analyzed. Crucial sources of financial resources mobilized by the company are identified. Additionally, an analysis of the company’s transportation assets is conducted. Furthermore, an investment project for the modernization of key assets, specifically railway transportation, is outlined. This involves collaboration with European countries, whereby Ukrainian grain delivery costs to European ports are offset. The economic feasibility of the project is substantiated through the discounted cash flow method.

CASE STUDY ON OPERATION MANAGEMENT PERFORMANCE IMPROVEMENT OF SCRAP IRON COMPANY

The present study wants to improve the operation management performance, so as to increase the amount of revenue and improve the delivery cost of the case company. Therefore, the purpose of the present study, first, is to analyse the factors that affected the willingness to resupply of suppliers, and adopts the questionnaire survey method to collect data and uses statistical software to analyse the suppliers. Results shows the willingness to resupply of the suppliers. There are 92% suppliers will supply to case company again, and 88% suppliers would recommend peers to supply to case company. Second, use break-even analysis to analyse the delivery cost, compare the distance of the three major steel plants and the number of trips, and propose different delivery car options, which can save nearly NT$ 1.2 million per year for the case company.

Defining compromise area in the processes of multimodal delivery organization within the agile approach

The level of competition in the transport market requires delivery organizers to implement better approaches based on modern management methodologies, in particular, agile, which makes it possible to provide a modern level of service to cargo owners. The object of this research is the processes of organizing multimodal delivery. The subject of the study is the area of compromise in the processes of organizing multimodal delivery based on the agile approach. The term «compromise area» is introduced, which reflects the numerical limits of product parameters in the general case. For the transportation domain under consideration, the «trade-off area» reflects the limits of the characteristics of multimodal delivery, which is the «product» for the multimodal operator. A set of alternative options for multimodal delivery forms the basis for establishing the dependence of the cost of delivery on time and its reliability (possible time deviation). The area in the «time-reliability-cost» space, which is formed on the basis of this dependence, on the one hand, and the requirements of the cargo owner, taking into account their possible adjustment, on the other hand, is the area of compromise. This area is proposed for use in agile approaches to the organization of multimodal delivery. Balancing the interests of the cargo owner and the multimodal operator allows changing the limits of the compromise area within the framework of the proposed scheme of agile cycles in the process of planning and organizing delivery. On the example of delivering a container with cargo from China to Kyiv, regression linear models were built. These models formalize the dependence of delivery cost on reliability and/or time. Using the example of varying the requirements of the cargo owner regarding the limitations of some delivery characteristics, the formation of the compromise area and its adjustment was carried out, which demonstrated the practical aspects of the formation of the compromise area for multimodal delivery. The results are the basis for the implementation of the agile approach in the field of multimodal transportation. The further development of these results consists in the construction of mathematical models that could form the basis for finding solutions in the area of compromise

Inequity in the face of success: understanding geographic and wealth-based equity in success of facility-based delivery for under-5 mortality reduction in six countries

BackgroundBetween 2000–2015, many low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) implemented evidence-based interventions (EBIs) known to reduce under-5 mortality (U5M). Even among LMICs successful in reducing U5M, this drop was unequal subnationally, with varying success in EBI implementation. Building on mixed methods multi-case studies of six LMICs (Bangladesh, Ethiopia, Nepal, Peru, Rwanda, and Senegal) leading in U5M reduction, we describe geographic and wealth-based equity in facility-based delivery (FBD), a critical EBI to reduce neonatal mortality which requires a trusted and functional health system, and compare the implementation strategies and contextual factors which influenced success or challenges within and across the countries.MethodsTo obtain equity gaps in FBD coverage and changes in absolute geographic and wealth-based equity between 2000–2015, we calculated the difference between the highest and lowest FBD coverage across subnational regions and in the FBD coverage between the richest and poorest wealth quintiles. We extracted and compared contextual factors and implementation strategies associated with reduced or remaining inequities from the country case studies.ResultsThe absolute geographic and wealth-based equity gaps decreased in three countries, with greatest drops in Rwanda – decreasing from 50 to 5% across subnational regions and from 43 to 13% across wealth quintiles. The largest increases were seen in Bangladesh – from 10 to 32% across geography – and in Ethiopia – from 22 to 58% across wealth quintiles. Facilitators to reducing equity gaps across the six countries included leadership commitment and culture of data use; in some countries, community or maternal and child health insurance was also an important factor (Rwanda and Peru). Barriers across all the countries included geography, while country-specific barriers included low female empowerment subnationally (Bangladesh) and cultural beliefs (Ethiopia). Successful strategies included building on community health worker (CHW) programs, with country-specific adaptation of pre-existing CHW programs (Rwanda, Ethiopia, and Senegal) and cultural adaptation of delivery protocols (Peru). Reducing delivery costs was successful in Senegal, and partially successful in Nepal and Ethiopia.ConclusionVariable success in reducing inequity in FBD coverage among countries successful in reducing U5M underscores the importance of measuring not just coverage but also equity. Learning from FBD interventions shows the need to prioritize equity in access and uptake of EBIs for the poor and in remote areas by adapting the strategies to local context.

Measuring Effectiveness of Metro-Based Underground Logistics System in Sustaining City Logistics Performance During Public Health Emergencies: A Case Study of Shanghai

City logistics performance (CLP) is being increasingly challenged by public health emergencies and relevant mobility restriction policies. This paper introduces a novel urban contactless delivery measure incorporating the metro-based underground logistics system (M-ULS) and “Pandemic Thruport” (P-Thruport) concept to encounter logistics service failure during pandemic outbreaks. This solution is proposed to utilize the redundant public rail transit capacity to move goods efficiently and collectively from the outskirts to in-city customer destinations. To assess the effect of the proposed solution on CLP, two interacting system dynamics models are developed, where supply–demand relationships, logistics operation process, and CLP evaluation indicators (e.g., delivery time delay, costs, infection model, and underground logistics benefits) are comprised. The COVID-19 outbreaks in Shanghai City from March to May 2022, were taken as a case to evaluate the variation of CLP under four different scenarios associated with the dynamic implementation of M-ULS and the pandemic conditions. Results show that the new system is conducive to lowering the infection risks of logistics activities and improving urban freight transport efficiency. Compared with trucking mode, M-ULS’s advantages reflect in cost-saving and service capability. Moreover, the sustainable improvement of CLP can be achieved by balancing the operations of M-ULS and road-based logistics services through incentive policy adjustment.

Estimating the costs and perceived benefits of oral pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) delivery in ten counties of Kenya: a costing and a contingent valuation study.

Kenya included oral PrEP in the national guidelines as part of combination HIV prevention, and subsequently began providing PrEP to individuals who are at elevated risk of HIV infection in 2017. However, as scale-up continued, there was a recognized gap in knowledge on the cost of delivering oral PrEP. This gap limited the ability of the Government of Kenya to budget for its PrEP scale-up and to evaluate PrEP relative to other HIV prevention strategies. The following study calculated the actual costs of oral PrEP scale-up as it was being delivered in ten counties in Kenya. This costing also allowed for a comparison of various models of service delivery in different geographic regions from the perspective of service providers in Kenya. In addition, the analysis was also conducted to understand factors that indicate why some individuals place a greater value on PrEP than others, using a contingent valuation technique. Data collection was completed between November 2017 and September 2018. Costing data was collected from 44 Kenyan health facilities, consisting of 23 public facilities, 5 private facilities and 16 drop-in centers (DICEs) through a cross-sectional survey in ten counties. Financial and programmatic data were collected from financial and asset records and through interviewer administered questionnaires. The costs associated with PrEP provision were calculated using an ingredients-based costing approach which involved identification and costing of all the economic inputs (both direct and indirect) used in PrEP service delivery. In addition, a contingent valuation study was conducted at the same 44 facilities to understand factors that reveal why some individuals place a greater value on PrEP than others. Interviews were conducted with 2,258 individuals (1,940 current PrEP clients and 318 non-PrEP clients). A contingent valuation method using a "payment card approach" was used to determine the maximum willingness to pay (WTP) of respondents regarding obtaining access to oral PrEP services. The weighted cost of providing PrEP was $253 per person year, ranging from $217 at health centers to $283 at dispensaries. Drop-in centers (DICEs), which served about two-thirds of the client volume at surveyed facilities, had a unit cost of $276. The unit cost was highest for facilities targeting MSM ($355), while it was lowest for those targeting FSW ($248). The unit cost for facilities targeting AGYW was $323 per person year. The largest percentage of costs were attributable to personnel (58.5%), followed by the cost of drugs, which represented 25% of all costs. The median WTP for PrEP was $2 per month (mean was $4.07 per month). This covers only one-third of the monthly cost of the medication (approximately $6 per month) and less than 10% of the full cost of delivering PrEP ($21 per month). A sizable proportion of current clients (27%) were unwilling to pay anything for PrEP. Certain populations put a higher value on PrEP services, including: FSW and MSM, Muslims, individuals with higher education, persons between the ages of 20 and 35, and households with a higher income and expenditures. This is the most recent and comprehensive study on the cost of PrEP delivery in Kenya. These results will be used in determining resource requirements and for resource mobilization to facilitate sustainable PrEP scale-up in Kenya and beyond. This contingent valuation study does have important implications for Kenya's PrEP program. First, it indicates that some populations are more motivated to adopt oral PrEP, as indicated by their higher WTP for the service. MSM and FSW, for example, placed a higher value on PrEP than AGYW. Higher educated individuals, in turn, put a much higher value on PrEP than those with less education (which may also reflect the higher "ability to pay" among those with more education). This suggests that any attempt to increase demand or improve PrEP continuation should consider these differences in client populations. Cost recovery from existing PrEP clients would have potentially negative consequences for uptake and continuation.

Harnessing eukaryotic retroelement proteins for transgene insertion into human safe-harbor loci.

Current approaches for inserting autonomous transgenes into the genome, such as CRISPR-Cas9 or virus-based strategies, have limitations including low efficiency and high risk of untargeted genome mutagenesis. Here, we describe precise RNA-mediated insertion of transgenes (PRINT), an approach for site-specifically primed reverse transcription that directs transgene synthesis directly into the genome at a multicopy safe-harbor locus. PRINT uses delivery of two in vitro transcribed RNAs: messenger RNA encoding avian R2 retroelement-protein and template RNA encoding a transgene of length validated up to 4 kb. The R2 protein coordinately recognizes the target site, nicks one strand at a precise location and primes complementary DNA synthesis for stable transgene insertion. With a cultured human primary cell line, over 50% of cells can gain several 2 kb transgenes, of which more than 50% are full-length. PRINT advantages include no extragenomic DNA, limiting risk of deleterious mutagenesis and innate immune responses, and the relatively low cost, rapid production and scalability of RNA-only delivery.

Home Delivery in the Monisso Health Area: Tominian Health District

Unassisted home birth exposes mother and child to the most harmful complications. These complications are identified as one of the main causes of maternal and neonatal morbidity and mortality. Goal: To study the factors favoring home births in the Monisso health area. Method: Descriptive cross-sectional study in the period from January 1 to December 31, 2020 in the Monisso health area. Results: The proportion of home births was 80% (N= 210). The reasons given were respectively: the brevity of the labor of delivery (31.55%), the lack of financial means (25.60%), socio-cultural reasons (23.21%), the long distance between the village and the CSCOM (12 .5%), the high cost of delivery costs in the health center (6.55%). Conclusion: Home births are still very common in rural areas, particularly in developing countries.

Leveraging the Social Fabric to Improve Rural E-Commerce Access

Motivated by recent developments aimed to address last-mile delivery challenges in rural areas of Indonesia and China, we develop a theoretical model to study how to lower participation barriers to the e-commerce market. We analyze how stage stations lower the cost of last-mile delivery by leveraging the preexisting social fabric in rural communities, including local stores, as well as social technologies such as chat services and virtual groups. Specifically, we examine two models, a decentralized model with stage stations run by independent agents, and a centralized model, similar to the one pioneered by Alibaba Taobao. We find that when the delivery cost in rural areas is high, the decentralized model can lower the participation cost and increase both platform profit and social welfare. In general, the centralized model outperforms the decentralized one. One reason is that the decentralized model suffers from a double marginalization problem. The centralized model has more flexibility, for example, in determining the pricing policies for both sellers and buyers. It could offer free service to rural customers if the participation of fresh rural customers can attract many additional sellers. However, a centralized model may not be feasible in many countries. Therefore, we explore whether the platform can implement a coordination mechanism for decentralized stage stations. We find that our proposed coordination mechanism can improve the performance of the decentralized model. Our results have important implications for how e-commerce platforms can leverage stage stations and social technologies to lower participation barriers for rural customers, thereby creating a more inclusive development model.

Medical Supplies Delivery Route Optimization under Public Health Emergencies Incorporating Metro-based Logistics System

To effectively mitigate the spread of infections during public health crises, precise and timely distribution of medical supplies is crucial. This paper proposes the integration of the metro-based underground logistics system (M-ULS) into the delivery process to address the vehicle routing problem (VRP). Considering various factors related to the metro-based VRP in public health emergencies, we formulate a mixed-integer nonlinear function model that aims to minimize total delivery costs while maximizing the load factor of medical vans and the average demand index concerning demand urgency and satisfaction rate of medical centers. To achieve this, we develop an improved adaptive genetic algorithm (IAGA) that incorporates adaptive crossover, adaptive mutation, and an elitist strategy. A case study is conducted to verify and analyze the performance of the optimized model and solving algorithm. Extensive numerical experiments are carried out to assess the economical and efficient advantages of M-ULS and the computational efficiency and solution quality of IAGA. Sensitivity analysis is conducted to evaluate the impact of medical van capacity on the routes. Lastly, we consider inter-medical-center transfer (IMCT) to further enhance emergency health response.

Enhancing e-grocery order fulfillment: improving product availability, cost, and emissions in last-mile delivery

Enhancing e-grocery order fulfillment: improving product availability, cost, and emissions in last-mile delivery

Consumer Profile Analysis for Marketplace Application Design at Unggascare Startup

This research aims to identify consumer profiles and develop a strategy for developing the Unggascare startup application based on analysis of interviews with three informants from the poultry product buyer segment at Sukahaji Market. The analysis results show that consumers want quality poultry products at affordable prices, as well as improved service in terms of ease of finding products, seller responsiveness, timely delivery and affordable shipping costs. The majority of informants use smartphones and the internet to search for product information, including through marketplace platforms and social media such as Facebook. The implication of these findings is that there is an opportunity for Poultrycare to design an application that meets consumer needs in finding and purchasing poultry products more easily, as well as strengthening consumer loyalty through a satisfying experien ce.

Analyzing Health Care Delivery Costs from 2011 to 2020 in the Emergency Departments and Overall Hospital Costs

Analyzing Health Care Delivery Costs from 2011 to 2020 in the Emergency Departments and Overall Hospital Costs

BARRIERS TO ONLINE PURCHASE: CASE STUDY CONSUMER BEHAVIOUR IN FASHION INDUSTRY E-COMMERCE

The fashion industry e-commerce has witnessed a remarkable increase in market, leading to significant changes in online consumer behaviour. Consequently, research in the field of consumer online behaviour in the fashion industry has become highly relevant for marketers and online retailers. It is essential for fashion-industry e-commerce businesses to gain a deeper understanding of the barriers that hinder customers from making online purchases, comprehend the mechanisms of these barriers, and their role in making purchase decisions. This study aims to provide an overview and analysis of the barriers to online purchase in the fashion industry e-commerce, classify these barriers and determine the role that each barrier plays in making a purchase decision. The research methodology involves both qualitative and quantitative research methods, including the collection of secondary and primary descriptive data. The research approach included empirical and theoretical research levels with the application of abstraction, analysis, synthesis, deduction methods, and consumer surveys. The study identified five main groups of barriers to online purchase in the fashion industry e-commerce, which are technological barriers, privacy and financial risk barriers, barriers related to the limitations of the online shopping process, delivery-related barriers, and barriers linked to difficulties in returning goods. After surveying 147 respondents, mean values, median, standard deviation, skewness, and variance were calculated for each barrier. Additionally, a two-dimensional bar chart was designed to display the barriers and their mean values, organized in the order from the ones with the most negative impact on purchase decisions to the least. The findings revealed that the most significant and common barriers to online purchase in the fashion industry e-commerce are difficulty in searching for products, trial inconvenience, long delivery times, payment difficulties, and delivery costs. This knowledge is useful for e-shops to provide high-quality customer experience and service, predict changes in behaviour and trends, develop marketing tools and strategies to overcome barriers to purchase, and ultimately increase loyalty and sales.