Resumen de An analytical model for home delivery
Home delivery forms an essential part of the service characteristics in e-business. It is an important competitive factor especially in e-groceries, where several home delivery concepts can be applied. However, quantitative research on the last mile problem and the factors affecting home delivery cost has been scarce. In this paper we present a simulation based analytical model that offers a straightforward way of analyzing the delivery cost of different home delivery concepts in different situations.
Although the usage of the model is illustrated using e-grocery examples, the model applies to home delivery in general.
The results show that the delivery concept has a significant impact on the cost in initial phases of market penetration. At densities of one customer per square kilometer a day, the delivery cost using half-an-hour delivery slots is five times higher than when using reception boxes. As the market share increases, the differences between the delivery concepts decline. Instead of seeking a large number of customers through a wide service area, the e-grocers should concentrate on achieving high customer density. One way to achieve this is delivery consolidation.
