Purpose For traditional grocery retailers, the growing importance of online sales means creating new logistics models for omni-channel (OC) management. Due to these transformational changes, retail research and practice are lacking a comprehensive view on integrated fulfilment and distribution concepts for home and store deliveries as they have evolved recently. This paper develops a planning framework for last mile order fulfilment in OC grocery retailing and discusses the advantages and disadvantages of different design concepts. Design/methodology/approach The findings were developed and evaluated by means of explorative interviews with grocery retail and logistics experts. Additionally, key literature on last mile order fulfilment and retail supply chain management was reviewed to supplement the integrated OC grocery operations planning framework. Findings OC logistics planning can be structured into back-end fulfilment (e.g. warehouse and in-store picking) and last mile distribution concepts (e.g. attended and unattended home delivery). The design choices depend on country specifics (e.g. population density), retailer specifics (e.g. capability for cross-channel process integration) and customer behaviour (e.g. possibility of unattended home delivery). The application areas and their contextual factors are discussed for each design parameter. Practical implications The last mile fulfilment options identified can be applied to pinpoint the necessary steps for further optimizing OC integration. Grocers can gain insights into current fulfilment concepts used in different contexts. This architecture also forms the foundation for further research on decision support systems. Originality/value The coherent planning framework summarizes the general design options for last mile order fulfilment arising from new requirements for OC fulfilment.

Purpose – Online retailing changes all retail systems significantly. The growing importance of online sales requires the creation of new fulfillment models. The purpose of this paper is to investigate how retailers develop from separate multi-channel (MC) to integrated omni-channel (OC) fulfillment. OC retailing has an integrated perspective, with seamless interactions between online and bricks-and-mortar channels. Design/methodology/approach – More than 60 internationally active retailers and experts from Germany participated in an exploratory survey. With a response rate of 40 percent the authors achieved the goal to adequately depict the German MC and OC retail market. It is currently the largest empirical study of MC and OC fulfillment. Findings – It is the first study to comprehensively analyze the logistical development options open to retailers for integrated fulfillment. The authors discuss the conceptual development options and formulate propositions for an advanced OC fulfillment approach. OC retailers aim to pool their organizational units for fulfillment via different channels. Retailers with multiple channels develop their warehouse systems toward channel-integrated inventory enabling flexible and demand-driven inventory allocation. Retailers with channel-integrated inventory also organize their picking procedures in one common zone. The higher the outlet density, the more it becomes beneficial for retailers to introduce pick-up services. Research limitations/implications – The research is based on insights from retailers and experts from companies based in Germany. Practical implications – The findings provide an insight into designing OC fulfillment and distribution structures. The concepts themselves, archetypes, challenges and development paths are analyzed. Identified logistics levers can be adjusted to pinpoint the steps required to advance integration. Originality/value – The authors contribute by deriving propositions and a framework for transitioning from basic MC to integrated, extended OC logistics. Because this research area is still comparatively young, the authors take a more comprehensive, exploratory view of OC fulfillment.

The growing importance of online sales means that traditional bricksand-mortar retailers need to create new distribution systems to serve customers through multiple channels. Building an effective and efficient omni-channel (OC) distribution system, however, leads to multiple challenges. The questions arise for example, from where online orders should be fulfilled, how delivery and return processes can be organized, and which context-specific OC distribution systems exist. Answering these questions retail research and practice require an overall view of the distribution concepts for direct-to-customer and store deliveries in OC retailing, including the associated return processes. This overall picture is still missing in the literature. We conducted an exploratory study to close this observable gap in the literature. This exploratory study is based on semi-structured interviews with major OC retailers in German-speaking countries and was complemented by market data research and discussions with further experts in the field of OC retailing. Based on the results of the study, the forward distribution system in OC retailing is characterized by the sources (supplier DCs, retailer DCs, stores) and destinations (home, store) which describe the options for store delivery, home delivery, and store pickup. Return processes are likewise characterized by the sources (store, home) and destinations (store, DC, return center). This framework forms the foundation for analyzing contextual criteria, identifying when the different conceptual designs are applied, determining industry-specific characteristics, 123Business Research (2016) 9:255-296 DOI 10.1007 and illustrating ways to further advance OC retailing. The present paper, therefore, contributes to the literature in three main areas: (1) it identifies and systematizes the forward and backward concepts in OC retailing, (2) it reveals application and development areas for achieving excellence in OC fulfillment and logistics, and (3) shows the need for developing sector-and context-specific OC distribution systems.

9-H-9-Borafluorene (H(8)C(12)BH; 5) can be generated in situ from 9-Br-9-borafluorene and Et(3)SiH in benzene or hexane. Monitoring of the reaction by NMR spectroscopy at rt in C(6)D(6) reveals that 5 forms C(1)-symmetric dimers (5)(2) under these conditions. DFT calculations on conceivable isomers of (5)(2) and a comparison of calculated and experimentally determined (1)H, (13)C, and (11)B NMR shift values lead to the conclusion that (5)(2) is not a classical dimer H(8)C(12)B(μ-H)(2)BC(12)H(8), but contains one B-H-B three-center, two-electron bond together with a boron-bridging phenyl ring. Addition of 1 equiv of pyridine to (5)(2) leads to the clean formation of the pyridine adduct H(8)C(12)BH(py) (5·py). Likewise, (5)(2) can be employed in hydroboration reactions, as evidenced by its transformation with 0.5 equiv of tert-butylacetylene, which gives the hydroboration products tBuC(H)(2)C(H)(BC(12)H(8))(2) (9) and tBuC(H)C(H)BC(12)H(8) in almost quantitative yield. (5)(2) is not long-term stable in benzene solution. Addition of pyridine to aged reaction mixtures allowed the isolation of the adduct (py)H(2)B-C(6)H(4)-C(6)H(4)-(py)BC(12)H(8) (10·py(2)) of a ring-opened dimer of 5. Storage of a hexane solution of 9-Br-9-borafluorene and Et(3)SiH for 1-2 weeks at rt leads to the formation of crystals of a ring-opened pentamer H[-(H)B-(C(6)H(4))(2)-](4)BC(12)H(8) (11) of 5 (preparative yields are obtained after 1-4 months). The polymer main chain of 11 is reinforced by four intrastrand B-H-B three-center, two-electron bonds. Apart from the main product 11, we have also isolated minor amounts of closely related oligomers carrying different chain ends, i.e., H(8)C(12)B-(C(6)H(4))(2)[-(H)B-(C(6)H(4))(2)-](2)BC(12)H(8) (12) and H[-(H)B-(C(6)H(4))(2)-](5)BH(2) (13). When the reaction between 9-Br-9-borafluorene and Et(3)SiH is carried out in refluxing toluene, the cyclic dimer [-(μ-H)B-(C(6)H(4))(2)-](2) (14) can be obtained in a crystalline yield of 25%. The compounds 9, 10·py(2), 11, 12, 13, and 14 have been structurally characterized by X-ray crystallography. The entire reaction pathway leading from 5 to 10, 11, 12, 13, and 14 has been thoroughly elucidated by DFT calculations and we propose a general mechanistic scenario applicable for ring-opening polymerization reactions of 9-borafluorenes.

Dimeric aryl(hydro)boranes can provide suitable platforms for the synthesis of boron-containing graphene flakes through reductive B-B coupling. Two-electron reduction of 1,2:1,2-bis(4,4'-di-tert-butyl-2,2'-biphenylylene)diborane(6) (4) with LiNaph/THF establishes a B-B σ bond but can be accompanied by substituent redistribution. In the singly rearranged product, Li2[6], only one 1,2-phenyl shift has occurred. The doubly ring-contracted product, Li2[7], consists of two 9H-9-borafluorenyl moieties that are linked via their boron atoms. When the amount of LiNaph/THF is increased to 4 equiv, Li2[6] is subsequently observed as the dominant species. Addition of 11 equiv of LiNaph/THF results in over-reduction with hydride elimination to afford the doubly boron-doped dibenzo[g,p]chrysene Li2[1]. In contrast, excess KC8 reduces 4 to the corresponding dihydro-dibenzo[g,p]chrysene, K2[5], with a trans-HB-BH core. Hydride abstraction from K2[5] with 1 equiv of 4 leads to K[8], in which the central B-B bond is bridged by a single hydrogen atom. K[8] is also obtained upon treatment of 4 with 1 equiv of KC8. All products have been characterized by multinuclear NMR spectroscopy and X-ray crystallography.