Commonly used e-commerce supply chains for fast moving consumer goods: comparison and suggestions for improvement

This paper focuses on the logistics of the online sales of grocery items. More specifically, it seeks to find out the distribution of logistics costs throughout the supply chain from the order picking at the supplier up to the delivery to the shopper's doorstep. First, the three most commonly used supply chains for the online sales of grocery items are presented. Then, the paper describes the general methodology used to execute the cost analysis, including activities, resources and drivers. Third, the model framework is explained and situated in a more high-level view on online retailing. Subsequently, the results of the analysis are presented in the form of a cost distribution over different processes in the supply chain, including transport, picking, storage and last-mile delivery. It is found that last-mile costs typically represent a high share in total logistics costs, but that delivery-specific factors play a big role.