Implementing E-Commerce from Logistic Perspective: Literature Review and Methodological Framework

Abstract

E-commerce is always more diffused as a selling channel around the whole world market, and its importance has increased and continues to increase with the COVID-19 pandemic emergency. It provides enterprises a lot of opportunities, as the importance of physical stores to sell goods is bypassed. However, it has also changed the role of logistics in the supply chain. For this reason, this work aims to identify the main logistics research areas related to e-commerce implementation and the factors and key performance indicators, which should be taken into account for each logistics research area, with particular attention to sustainable aspects. For doing this, a structured and comprehensive literature analysis is carried out. Keywords associated with e-commerce and logistics areas are matched to identify the most interesting works related to its implementation. From the analysis, five main research areas are identified: Supply Chain Network Design (SCND); Outbound Logistics (OL); Reverse Logistics (RL); Warehousing (WR); and IT and data management (E-IT). For each area, key factors, strategies and performance indicators have been identified. Finally, a methodological framework that summarizes the results of the analysis is presented; this is a useful tool for managers to implement or expand their e-commerce business. Many works are focused on one research area, carrying out critical factors, models, and methods to implement that topic. Instead, the methodological framework presented here summarizes multiple research areas from a logistic point of view, identifying for each one input and output variables and how they influence each other.

The impact of COVID‐19 on logistics and coping strategies: A literature review

“…Production stoppages lead to supply disruptions and supplier–retailer bottlenecks; port closures lead to high negative peaks in global logistics; inventory wastage leads to high retail losses; and blockades and containment zones lead to a shift from physical marketplaces to e‐commerce portals (De & Singh, 2021). This set of problems has led to reduced efficiency in the quality of logistics services and unstable supply prices (Zennaro et al, 2022).…”

Last Mile Logistics Innovations in the Courier-Express-Parcel Sector Due to the COVID-19 Pandemic

“…However, last mile logistics operators are constantly looking for even more innovative solutions that will automate the delivery process. The literature review shows that most often these are the solutions that will also guarantee the use of the concept of sustainable development [52,53].…”

Adaptation of risk management in the supply chains of e-commerce enterprises under the conditions of political instability

“…A large body of e-commerce research is mostly focused on the analysis of its scale, causes and motives for the development of this area in trade, as well as on the peculiarities of the construction and functioning of supply chains of Internet companies. E-commerce includes any form of economic activity carried out through the establishment of electronic links [18]. The growth of its scale in recent decades has significantly changed the role of logistics in the supply chain of goods.…”

“…Another approach to studying the conditions for the functioning of supply chains in e-commerce is to highlight their functional areas: supply chain network design (SCND) [22]; output logistics (OL) [23]; reverse logistics (RL) [24]; warehousing (WR) [18,22,[25][26][27]; IT and electronic data management (E-IT) [18,28]. We share a point of view [18,[22][23][24][25][26][27][28]] but, at the same time, emphasize the need to define characteristic features of the impact of risks of military conflicts on the functional areas of logistics of e-commerce enterprises.…”