Characterizing urban last-mile distribution strategies in mature and emerging e-commerce markets

E-retailers and other companies participating in the e-commerce supply chain are developing a variety of strategies for last-mile e-commerce distribution in urban areas. These strategies must account for a number of elements of local context which can be particularly challenging in emerging markets. Urban last-mile distribution strategies that are specifically tailored to these markets are rarely discussed in the extant literature. This study uses a combination of literature review and case study analysis to establish an integrated conceptual framework that allows to characterize urban last-mile e-commerce distribution strategies in both mature and emerging markets. We then use this structured framework to perform a review and comparison of different last-mile distribution strategies and highlight variables impacting the choice of network design decisions.