last mile delivery: a systematic literature review of

Stream 16: Technology, Innovation and Supply Chain Management

Refereed Delivered Session

Last Mile Delivery: a Systematic Literature Review of Definitions and

Development of Distribution Network Models

Joerin Motavallian

School of Business IT and Logistics, RMIT University, Melbourne, Australia

[email protected]

Shams Rahman


[email protected]

Caroline Chan


[email protected]

mailto:[email protected]



Stream 16: Technology, Innovation and Supply Chain Management

Refereed Delivered Session

Last Mile Delivery: a Systematic Literature Review of Definitions and

Development of Distribution Network Models

ABSTRACT

The last stage of a supply chain that is involved in delivering goods to end-customers is described by

various phrases. The use of different phrases for the same phenomenon makes it ambiguous and

deserves a clarification in terms of its meaning and scope. Conducting an extensive literature review,

this study explores how different phrases and definitions underpin the phenomenon. We found that

‘Last Mile Delivery’ is the domain phrase used to describe the last stage of a supply chain delivery.

Based on the content analysis of the twenty-one definitions, we propose a new definition for the last

mile delivery. The proposed definition is then used to suggest forty theoretical models of last mile

delivery.

KEYWORDS

Last mile delivery, Content analysis, last mile delivery models, last mile delivery definition

INTRODUCTION

Rapid urbanisation and rising popularity of online shopping have created a surge in goods movement

especially in urban area, where there is a competition for a limited space in the public realm. Last

Mile Delivery, known as the final stage of supply chains in delivering goods to customers has become

a critical issue in the context of the urban goods movement system. Studies suggest that last mile

delivery is one of the most expensive, inefficient and polluting stage of any supply chain (Brown &

Guiffrida, 2014; Ehmke & Mattfeld, 2012; Gevaers, Van de Voorde, & Vanelslander, 2011).

Although many studies have been conducted to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of last mile

delivery, the scope and definition of it still remain unclear. Various phrases such as last mile

logistics, last mile supply chain and last kilometre freight used to describe last mile delivery

phenomenon. The use of different phrases for the same phenomenon makes it ambiguous and

deserves a clarification in terms of its meaning and scope. Moreover companies who provide online

purchasing services (along with off-line services) need to provide an efficient way for delivering

goods to customers. Providing a suitable structure for delivering goods requires a clear understanding

of the meaning and scope of the last mile delivery.

In spite of few attempts in providing typologies of last mile delivery, lack of agreed scope and

definition has caused an ambiguity in its structure. Thus, based on the content analysis of the extant

definitions, we propose a new definition for last mile delivery. The proposed definition is then used to

suggest forty theoretical models of last mile delivery which has both theoretical and practical

implications in the design of efficient and effective distribution networks.

The remainder of this paper is organized as follows. First we present a literature review of last mile

delivery. Then we outline the research methodology and present the trend in the last mile delivery

research. Following this, we analyse and discuss various definitions of last mile delivery and propose

a new definition. Based on the proposed definition, we then present different models for the last mile

delivery. Finally, we conclude the paper.

LITERATURE REVIEW

Many studies, initiatives, and practices have been conducted to improve the last mile delivery process.

In spite of these attempts, the extant knowledge on last mile delivery is limited (Jin & Srai, 2015). A

review of literature of last mile delivery and distribution contexts suggests that a limited research has

so far been conducted to develop the typologies and distribution models for the last mile delivery.

One of the rare studies is by, Chopra (2003) who considers last mile delivery as a kind of distribution

network. Last mile delivery in his classification refers to the distributor/retailer delivering the product

to the customer’s home instead of using a package carrier. Along with the last mile delivery option

Chopra (2003) also suggests five other distribution networks for the movement of goods from the

manufacturer to the end consumer. On the other hand, Minguela-Rata and De Leeuw (2013) and

Edwards, McKinnon and Cullinane (2010) consider last mile delivery as a part of distribution network

and define it as the last link of goods movement to consumer.

Different factors are considered by authors to define the structure of the last mile delivery and goods

movement. Chopra (2003) considers delivery mode and product flow as two main decision factors for

designing distribution networks while others focus on other factors such as order preparation place,

type of delivery, and place of delivery. Although some studies consider common decision factors,

they may have different categorisations. For example Boyer, Frohlich and Hult (2004) divide order

preparation place into two groups, retail stores and centralized distribution centres/ warehouses, while

Coyle, Langley, Novack and Gibson (2016) distinguish five places for order preparations including

retail store, retail distribution centre serving both stores and online consumers, retail distribution

centre dedicated for online consumers, manufacturer warehouse/ distribution centre, and third-party’s

warehouse/ distribution centre.

To classify different aspects of last mile delivery, few studies introduce last mile delivery typology.

Gevaers (2013) classifies last mile delivery options using four main factors: starting point, place of

delivery, type of delivery and specific issues of delivery. According to Geravers (2013), last mile

delivery process starts at warehouse or picking location and finishes at customer home or picked up or

cluster points. In the context of last mile delivery, attended and unattended are considered two types

of home delivery; and reception box, collection point, and post office are considered three main types

of cluster points. Based on the studies by Chopra (2003), Boyer et al. (2004) and Gevaers (2013), Jin

and Srai (2015) develop a typology for the last mile delivery using Supply Chain Operations

Reference (SCOR) model. Although they attempt to consider all classifications and eliminate

duplicate cases, their classification does not cover all possible physical goods movement in the last

mile delivery.

Literature suggests that there isn’t a unique view of the last mile delivery in terms of commercial

transaction. For instance, the definition of Gevaers (2013) limits last mile delivery to business to

consumer while some definitions include wider commercial transactions such as business to consumer

and consumer to consumer. Examples include Tipagornwong and Figliozzi (2014) who define last

mile delivery in the context of both business to business and business to consumer and Allen, Thorne

and Browne (2007) who consider business to business and consumer to consumer for last mile

delivery context. Moreover, various phrases have been used to address the last mile delivery

phenomenon. For example Tipagornwong and Figliozzi (2014); Suksri, Raicu and Yue (2012); and

Wu, Shao and Ng (2015) address last mile delivery as last mile supply chain, last kilometre freight

distribution and last mile logistics respectively. Last mile delivery is also defined in different ways

which will be analysed later in this study. In the absence of an agreed phrase and definition of last

mile delivery, lack of clear scope has caused ambiguity in the development of the last mile delivery

distribution network structure. In this study we clarify the definition and scope of last mile delivery

and introduce possible structures of last mile delivery based on our proposed definition.

RESEARCH METHODOLOGY AND INITIAL DATA STATISTICS

The principal aim of a systematic literature review is to access and map the existing body of

knowledge and develop reliable knowledge (Tranfield, Denyer & Smart, 2003). We conduct a

systematic literature review to understand the meaning and scope of last mile delivery and suggest

distribution network models for the last mile delivery. Following the guidance introduced by Denyer

and Tranfield (2009), we conduct this study in four key steps (See Figure 1). These steps enable us to

collect, explore and analyse an extant literature in order to gather knowledge to develop new

definition and models for last mile delivery.

Insert Figure 1 about here

Step 1: Question formulation

This study explores different phrases and definitions of last mile delivery to clarify the scope and the

structure of the phenomenon. To establish the focus of this study, four main questions are formulated

as follows:

- Q1: What is the domain phrase addressing the last stage of supply chains (last mile delivery)?

- Q2: How is last mile delivery defined in the literature?

- Q3: What is the scope of last mile delivery?

- Q4: What is the structure of last mile delivery?

Step 2: Locating studies

This step aims to locate as much as possible of the studies relevant to our review questions. To have

more relevant research, we need to define appropriate search terms. Our initial review of some

relevant studies which includes books and articles in the field reveals that many phrases starting with

last mile or last kilometre (kilometre) are used to address the phenomenon. Therefore using ‘last mile’

and ‘last kilometre’ as search terms direct us to find articles which include various definitions and

phrases of last mile delivery.

Moreover this phenomenon has been addressed by various articles in related subjects such as city

logistics and home delivery. Investigating articles in the relevant subjects also provided us an insight

into how related subjects address the phenomenon. Therefore along with the ‘last mile’ and the ‘last

kilometre’ we define a second group of search terms which indicates related subjects including home

delivery, home shopping, city logistics, urban logistics and urban freight.

All related journal or conference papers in the last mile delivery phenomenon are collected by using

the first group of search terms in title, abstract and keywords in major databases including Elsevier

(www.sciencedirect.com), Emerald (www.emeraldinsight.com), Springer (www.springerlink.com),

Informs (https://www.informs.org) and library services including ProQuest (www.proquest.com) and

Scopus (www.scopus.com).

Step 3: Study selection and evaluation

In this step we assessed the relevance of each study found to realise if it actually does address the

review questions. We identified the relevant articles by reviewing the title and abstract of each paper.

Since the same phrase is used in telecommunication and humanitarian fields we do need this phase to

delete irrelevant articles. We downloaded and imported citations including title, abstract and

keywords and whole text of articles to EndNote software. One article may be presented by various

databases. To avoid duplication we used EndNote. Then all papers and citations were exported to

NVivo (version 10) for analysing and reporting purposes.

Step 4: Analysis, using the results and reporting

Initial report

Using ‘last mile’ and ‘last kilometre’ as search terms, we found 46 articles in the field of last

mile delivery. Our search shows that the first article using last mile or last kilometre phrases appeared

in 2001. This shows that the last mile delivery is relatively a new topic in literature. Using the same

process for the second group of search terms, we found 217 journal and conference papers. Fifteen

articles are found to be common in both search term groups. The first article from the second group

was published in 1996. Figure 2 shows the distribution of articles published in the last mile delivery

https://www.informs.org/

http://www.scopus.com/

and some related contexts between 1996 and mid-2015. The distribution shows that the number of

studies has increased significantly in recent time.


Figure 3 shows the number of articles in both categories of search terms or phrases. The highest

number of papers (122) belongs to ‘city logistics’ following by ‘urban freight’ with 73 papers. The

‘last mile’ term is used in title, abstract and keywords of 44 articles while ‘last kilometre’ is found in

2 articles. We found a total of 248 articles.


Exploring domain phrases

In the literature there are various phrases with the combination of last mile/kilometre and

some terms such as logistics, delivery, and freight. Using NVivo (version10) we searched any phrase

that consists of ‘last mile’ or ‘last kilometre’ among whole text of all papers. We found 106 articles

(out of 248) used either ‘last mile’ or ‘last kilometre’ in the text of these studies. Developing word

tree indicates how the last mile and the last kilometre are combined with other words (See Figure 4).


Reviewing the word tree of last mile and last kilometre, we made a list of phrases addressing last mile

delivery phenomenon. Table 1 shows the numbers of articles used each phrase in the whole text. It

demonstrates that the phrase of ‘last mile delivery’ is used in 44 out of 248 articles making it the most

commonly used phrase in this context. ‘Last mile logistics’ is the second most commonly used phrase

which was found in twenty articles. Based on the statistics, we found ‘last mile delivery’ as the

dominated phrase in this phenomenon.

Insert Table 1 about here

Analysing the extant definitions and developing new definition

All definitions of last mile delivery and related phrases which are included in Table 1 were

manually collected from the articles. Then a content analysis was conducted to explore the structure of

the existing definitions. Based on the results of content analysis a definition was proposed for last

mile delivery. The results of this analysis are described in details in the section titled definition of last

mile delivery.

Developing last mile delivery models

In this step, last mile delivery modes are developed based on the finding from content analysis

and proposed definition. At the end, the proposed models are examined in a real case.

DEFINITION OF LAST MILE DELIVERY

Since there are various phrases and definitions for last mile delivery in literature, to understand its

meaning, it is critical to investigate all related phrases and definitions. All identified papers are

reviewed manually and screened based on whether or not they offer a definition in last mile delivery

or related phrases. This process delivered a total of 21 definitions of last mile delivery (See Table 2).


Investigating all definitions indicates that these definitions basically address some or all following

categories: main process/theme, function, commodity, coming from (whom and where) and going to

(whom and where). Table 3 shows how the definitions address these categories. Almost all definitions

explain that it is the last part of the main process. Over 50% of definitions (12) considered supply

chain as the main process. Delivery, movement, logistics and distribution are four functions used in

these definitions. Delivery and movement, respectively with 13 and 3 replications are the most

common functions in existing definitions. There is no relation between the function used in a

definition and the phrase which is used. For example, it is expected that last mile logistics definitions

use logistics function but they have used delivery and movement functions while last mile online

shopping and last mile solution definitions have used both logistics and delivery functions. It is

noticeable that all last mile delivery definitions used delivery function. Different words have been

used for commodity within definitions but ‘goods’ is the most popular word. Definitions do not

emphasis on common places for conducting functions (both from and to). They consider various

places such as port, consolidation centre and warehouse as the last point where the last movement of

goods will be started in a supply chain. We call this point as ‘last dispatch point’. Also definitions

consider various places such as stores, home and cluster/collection point as the place where goods are

delivered to consignee. We call this point as ‘delivery point’.

Based on the existing definitions, we introduce a definition for last mile delivery to clarify all aspects

of this phenomenon. This definition includes business to business, business to consumer, consumer to

consumer contexts:

‘The last transportation of consignment in supply chains from the last dispatch point to the delivery

point where consignee receives the consignment’

We used ‘consignment’ and ‘consignee’ instead of ‘goods/freight/product’ and ‘customer/consumer’

respectively in this definition. Refer to the consignment definition ‘a batch of goods destined for or

delivered to someone’ (https://en.oxforddictionaries.com) and consignee definition ‘the person or

company to whom goods or documents are officially sent or delivered’

(http://dictionary.cambridge.org), consignment and consignee explain the situation in better way.


The proposed definition does not include return or collection process. The process of collecting goods

from some places is called ‘First Mile’ (Souza, Goh, Lau, Ng, & Tan, 2014; Schliwa, Armitage, Aziz,

Evans, & Rhoades, 2015) and is not in the scope of the definition of last mile delivery. Moreover last

mile delivery process will be completed when the consignee receives the consignment, however does

not mean that the consignment have no more transportation in all cases. There is an extra

transportation for consignment to reach to its final destination when a delivery point is away from

consignee place. For example, a consumer may pick up his/her consignment from retail store and

brings it to home by his/her private car. We do not consider this transportation in the scope of last

mile delivery, but these transportations should not be ignored because consignees should travel to

delivery point and collect their consignment. Xu, Ferrand and Roberts (2008) call this activity ‘Last

Mile Collection’ and define it as collection from certain convenient locations that are close to

customer’s house or workplace. We call this transportation of consignment as ‘After Last Mile

Delivery’. So we define after last mile delivery as ‘the collection and transportation of consignment

from delivery point to consignee’s place’. In the same manner all transportation before last mile

delivery from where the order is prepared to the last dispatch point has been considered as ‘Before

Last Mile Delivery’ (See Figure 5).


http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/english/batch#batch__2

http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/english/destine#destine__2

http://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/business-english/person

http://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/business-english/company

http://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/business-english/goods

http://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/business-english/document_1

http://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/business-english/officially

http://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/business-english/send

http://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/business-english/deliver

DEVELOPMENT OF LAST MILE DELIVERY MODELS

According to Campbell and Savelsbergh (2006) customer orders are fulffiled in three steps: (1) Order

capture and promise, (2) Order sourcing and assemble (order preparation), and (3) Order delivery. In

the first step, customers can place an order in different ways such as online, by phone or in person

(Chopra 2013). The consignments do not have any physical movement in this step. In the second step,

the products of each order are picked from shelves and packed. The consignments are ready to

delivery to customer at the end of this step. In the third step the consignments start its journey and

may pass different places to be delivered to customer. The delivery of a consignment from its origin

to its destination is managed directly or often through one or more intermediate facilities where

storing, merging and consolidation activities are performed. This type of distribution systems is

commonly called multi-echelon, where each echelon refers to one level of the distribution network

(Cuda, Guastaroba, & Speranza, 2015). Last mile delivery is the last echelon of the distribution

network. The entire journey starts from ‘order preparation point’, where the order preparation action

is conducted. The consignment may pass different echelons to finish its journey at ‘delivery point’

where delivery action is conducted. Last mile delivery is the last stage (echelon) of this journey and

starts from ‘last dispatch point’, where the last dispatch action is conducted, and finishes at delivery

point. Dispatch actions happen in each echelon of whole journey but the last dispatch is considered

based on the last mile delivery definition. According to our presumption the first dispatch happens in

the order preparation point so order preparation point alternatively can be called ‘first dispatch point’.

To design the last mile delivery structure, decision makers need to decide where the order preparation,

last dispatch and delivery actions take place. In other words there are three key decision factors in

designing a last mile delivery structure:

• Order preparation point where the order preparation action is conducted. The goods of

each order are picked from shelves and packed in this place. In other words the goods are

allocated to specific orders and form consignments in this place.

• Last dispatch point where the last dispatch action is conducted and the consignments

dispatch directly to delivery point.

• Delivery point where delivery action is conducted. The delivery action can take place in two

different forms: pick-up mode and handover mode. Pick-up mode is conducted far from

consignee’s place while handover mode happens at consignee’s place.

There are various choices for these three decision factors (See Table 4). Order preparation, last

dispatching and delivery can take place in six different places along a distribution network:

1. Factory refers a place where goods are produced. Order preparation, last dispatch and picking up

can happen directly from this place.

2. Intermediate warehouse refers a facility where goods are stored and is located somewhere

between factory (manufacturing facility) and the customer. The intermediate warehouse may

belong to a manufacturer, distributor or retailer.

3. Distribution centre /Consolidation centre refers to a place where various consignments are

consolidated and accumulated before distribution. While storage is the main function of a normal

warehouse, distribution centres focus on product movement rather than storage (Langevin &

Riopel, 2005). According to our classification, there is no storing function in a distribution centre

and the prepared orders are just consolidated for specific areas or delivery points.

4. Store (Shop) refers to a place where goods are displayed to sell. Stores usually need a level of

stocking for displaying and selling purposes, which enables stores to conduct the order

preparation function.

5. Collection centre (pick up centre) refers to a facility where consignments wait for collecting by

consignees or their representatives. It is supposed that this place is away from consignee place.

Although factory, warehouse, store and distribution centre are potentially a collection centre,

these places are not considered as a collection centre in our classification. Post office, gas station

and parcel locker are some examples of collection centres.

6. Consignee place where the consignee is supposed to have/use consignments.

Order preparation can logically take place where the goods are available for picking and packing, so

holding inventory function is needed in these places. Therefore, order preparation can occur in

factory, warehouse and store.

A consignment is sent to consignee directly from order preparation points or indirectly from some

intermediate facilities before reaching to its destination (Cuda et al., 2015, Boyer et al., 2004). So last

dispatch point can happen from factory, warehouse, store, distribution centre and collection centre.

Delivery activity can happen at any places of a distribution network including factory, warehouse,

distribution centre, store, collection centre and consignee’s place. There are two forms of delivery in

last mile delivery: pick-up mode and handover mode. During the pick-up mode, consignees travel to

an allocated place where is far from their places and pick up the consignment, while in handover

mode carriers deliver the consignment at a consignee’s place. A consignee can be a business or

consumer, so a consignee’s place can be anywhere such as a house, office or shop.


Based on the different choices in order preparation point, last dispatch point and delivery point, we

developed 40 potential distinct last mile delivery structures shown in Figure 6. These models show

how the last physical movement of goods can happen during a distribution network. Each model has

its own advantages and disadvantages. Selection of appropriate model depends on wide range of

factors such as cost, customer convenience, and lead time which is beyond the scope of this paper.

However some models may be more popular in a specific industry or circumstance.


An investigation of one of the largest department stores in Australia indicates that they adapt Model

14 for delivering goods to its stores (business to business) and delivers online orders to its customers

(business to consumer) which is based on Model 38. All goods going to stores for selling and

displaying proposes are prepared at manufacturer (supplier) facilities and transported to a reginal

distribution centre where the goods are distributed to all stores in the same region. In fact, factory,

distribution centre and store are order preparation point, last dispatch point and delivery point

respectively, which indicates Model 14. Online orders are prepared at some selected stores by store

staff and delivered to customers by carrier. The carrier transport all consignments to a central

distribution centre and from there the consignment are sent to local distribution centres where the last

dispatch activity happens. Therefore, store, distribution centre and consignee’s place are order

preparation, last dispatch and delivery points of this structure, which indicates Model 38.

Click and collect is a very popular marketing channel these days and is offered by many retailers.

Mainly the online orders are prepared at the stores where customers pick up their orders. Click and

collect corresponds with Model 32 but in some cases the products are not available at customer’s

convenience store. Therefore, the order needs to be prepared at other store and transported to the

selected store for pick-up. In this case, click and collect may refer to Models 39, 36, or 32.

According to our proposed definition the last mile delivery does not exist when the last dispatch point

and delivery points are same. In Models 1, 19 and 32 the last dispatch point and delivery points

happen in the same place, so there is no last mile delivery.

CONCLUSION

The paper presented a structured literature review of last mile delivery definitions and proposed a new

definition and forty theoretical models of last mile delivery. Reviewing all related articles indicates

that although various phrases have been used to address the last leg of physical goods movement in a

supply chain, ‘last mile delivery’ is the most commonly used phrase in this context. Conducting a

content analysis indicates that the extant definitions are mainly formulated in five main categories:

process/theme, function, commodity, origin place and destination place. Based on the content analysis

of the extant definitions, a new definition is proposed for the last mile delivery which covers business

to business, business to consumer and consumer to consumer commercial transactions. The proposed

definition is then used to suggest forty theoretical models of last mile delivery. Based on the

proposed model, order preparation point, last dispatch point, and delivery point are three key factors

of last mile delivery. There are various choices for each of these key points. A combination of

different choices in each point indicates a specific model of last mile delivery. We distinguished forty

distinct last mile delivery models which have both theoretical and practical implications in the design

of efficient and effective distribution networks. This study focuses on the origin and destination of

consignments in last mile delivery context. Investigating last mile delivery from other perspectives

such as reception modes, modes of vehicle, and types of consignment was not within scope of this

study which are some of the options for future studies.

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Synchronizing the Last Mile a Singapore Research Perspective. Procedia - Social and

Behavioral Sciences, vol. 125, no. 0, pp. 422-31.

Springer, (2015). www.springerlink.com, Retrieved June 25, 2015

Suksri, J., Raicu, R. & Yue, WL. (2012). Towards Sustainable Urban Freight Distribution-a Proposed

Evaluation Framework. In: The Proceedings of Australian Transport Research Forum, Perth,

Australia, 26 - 28 September 2012.

Tipagornwong, C. & Figliozzi, M., (2014). Analysis of competitiveness of freight tricycle delivery

services in urban areas. Transportation Research Record: Journal of the Transportation

Research Board, (2410), pp.76-84.

Tranfield, D., Denyer, D. & Smart, P. (2003). Towards a methodology for developing evidence‐

informed management knowledge by means of systematic review. British journal of

management, 14(3), pp.207-222.

http://www.qsrinternational.com/products_nvivo.aspx

https://en.oxforddictionaries.com/

http://www.scopus.com/

Woodard, JB. (2013). Last‐ Mile Deliveries in High‐ Density Urban Residential Areas of Manhattan.

Doctoral dissertation, Columbia University.

Wu, H., Shao, D. & Ng, W. (2015). Locating Self-Collection Points for Last-Mile Logistics Using

Public Transport Data. In T Cao, E-P. Lim, Z-H. Zhou, T-B. Ho, D Cheung. & H Motoda

(eds), Advances in Knowledge Discovery and Data Mining, Springer International

Publishing, vol. 9077, pp. 498-510.

Xu, M., Ferrand, B. & Roberts, M. (2008). The last mile of e-commerce - Unattended delivery from

the consumers and eTailers' perspectives. International Journal of Electronic Marketing and

Retailing, vol. 2, no. 1, pp. 20-38.

Figure 1: Research methodology flowchart

Providing initial statistics

Identifying phrases directly refer to the last link of

supply chain (LMD)

- Discussing with senior academics in the field

- Quick search among major resource in the field

Searching search terms in Title, Abstract and

Keywords at major databases and libraries including Elsevier, Emerald, Springer, Informs, ProQuest and Scopus.

All phrases start with

- Last mile

- Last kilometre

Searching search terms in Title, Abstract

and Keywords at major databases and

libraries including Elsevier, Emerald,

Springer, Informs, ProQuest and Scopus.

- Home delivery

- Home shopping

- City logistics

- Urban logistics

- Urban freight

Exporting data to NVivo

Searching definition of phrases start with

last mile or last kilometre

Conducting content analysis of definitions

Developing new definitions

Developing LMD models

Examining the proposed model in real case

Downloading whole paper and citation

including title, abstract and keywords

Importing citation and whole paper to

EndNote

Finding and deleting duplications

Reviewing the title and abstract of each

paper and deleting irrelevant studies

(ignoring articles in humanitarian and

Telecommunication fields)

Exporting data to NVivo

Downloading whole paper and citation

including title, abstract and keywords

Importing citation and whole paper to

EndNote

Finding and deleting duplications

Step 2: Locating studiesStep 2: Locating studies

Step 3: Study selection and

evaluation

Step 3: Study selection and

evaluation

Initial

report

Initial

report

Analysing of extant

definitions and

developing new

definition

Analysing of extant

definitions and

developing new

definition

Developing last

mile delivery

models

Developing last

mile delivery

models

The first

group of

search terms

The first

group of

search terms

The second

group of search

terms

The second

group of search

terms

Step 1: Question

formulation

Step 1: Question

formulationDefining research questions

Searching each phrase that starts with last

mile or last kilometre in whole pages of all

papers and counting number of papers for

each phrase

Exploring domain phraseExploring domain phrase

Step 4:

Analysis, using

the results and

reporting

Step 4:

Analysis, using

the results and

reporting

Reviewing the title and abstract of each

paper and deleting irrelevant studies

Figure 2: Publication trend in last mile delivery context

Figure 3: Distribution of studies using each term in title, abstract and keywords

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

80

Group two

Group one

122

43

73

63

5

44

2

0

20

40

60

80

100

120

140

City

logistics

Urban

logistics

Urban

freight

Home

delivery

Home

shopping

Last mile Last

kilometer

Number of papers

The first group of search termsThe second group of search terms

Figure 4: A part of word tree of ‘last mile’ in whole text of all articles

Figure 5: Different stages of last mile delivery

Before Last Mile Delivery Last Mile Delivery After Last Mile Delivery

Order Preparation

PointLast Dispatch Point

Delivery

Point

Consignee's Place

Figure 6: Last Mile Delivery Models

Model 1 Factory Consignee PlaceAfter LMD

Model 2 Factory Consignee PlaceAfter LMDIntermediate Warehouse

LMD

Model 3 Factory Consignee PlaceAfter LMDStoreLMD

Model 4 Factory Consignee PlaceAfter LMDDistribution

CentreLMD

Model 5 Factory Consignee PlaceAfter LMDCollection

CentreLMD

Model 6 Factory Consignee PlaceLMD

Model 7 Factory Consignee PlaceAfter LMDStoreLMDIntermediate Warehouse


CentreLMD

Intermediate Warehouse


CentreLMD





Distribution Centre

LMDIntermediate Warehouse

Store


Collection Centre


Store



Store

Model 14 Factory Consignee PlaceAfter LMDStoreLMD


Consolidation Centre

Model 15 Factory

Collection Centre


Distribution Centre

Store Consignee PlaceAfter LMD



Distribution Centre

Store

Model 17 Factory StoreLMD


Collection Centre

Distribution Centre

Consignee PlaceAfter LMD

Model 18 Factory

CollectionCentre


Distribution Centre

Store Consignee PlaceLMD



StoreLMD


Distribution Centre

LMD


Collection Centre

LMD

Model 23 Factory Consignee PlaceIntermediate Warehouse

LMD


CentreLMD


Store


CentreLMDWarehouse Shop

Model 26 Factory Consignee PlaceLMDIntermediate Warehouse

Store

Model 27 Factory Consignee PlaceAfter LMDStoreLMDIntermediate Warehouse

Distribution Centre


Distribution Centre


CollectionCentre

LMDStore

Model 29 Factory Consignee Place

Distribution Centre


LMDStore


Collection Centre


StoreLMDDistribution

Centre

Model 31 Factory

CollectionCentre


Distribution Centre

Store Consignee PlaceLMD



Store



StoreDistribution

CentreLMD



StoreCollection

CentreLMD



Store LMD


Distribution Centre


Store Shop


Distribution Centre


Store Collection

Centre


Distribution Centre


Store


Collection Centre


Store Store


Distribution Centre


Store Collection Centre

Consignment Transportation in Supply ChainConsignment Transportation in Supply Chain

Last Mile Delivery (LMD)Last Mile Delivery (LMD)

After Last Mile DeliveryAfter Last Mile Delivery

Order Preparation PointOrder Preparation Point

Last Dispatch PointLast Dispatch Point

Delivery PointDelivery Point

Table 1: Frequency of papers using a specific phrase in whole text

Phrase Search term

All

terms City

logistics

Urban

logistics

Urban

freight

Home

delivery

Home

shopping

Last

mile

Last

Kilometre

Last Mile Delivery 8 6 8 13 2 24 0 44

Last Mile Logistics 7 4 6 4 0 12 0 20

Last Mile Problem 0 0 1 11 0 9 0 15

Last Mile Distribution 4 3 4 2 0 6 0 13

Last Mile Supply chain 0 0 0 4 1 9 0 9

Last kilometre 3 2 4 0 0 2 2 8

Last Mile Solution 7 0 4 0 0 1 0 7

Last Mile Transport 2 0 1 1 0 5 0 7

Last Mile Operation 0 0 1 5 0 2 0 6

Last Mile Freight 1 0 0 1 0 1 0 2

Last Mile Collection 1 1 0 1 0 1 0 2

Last Mile/ kilometre 31 15 28 37 4 44 2 106

Table 2: Definitions of Last Mile and related phrases

Def

No.

Author/s Phrase used Definition

1 Morganti, Dablanc

& Fortin

(2014, p. 23)

Last mile ‘The final segment of the supply chain’

2 Gevaers

(2013, p. 8)

Last mile ‘The last mile is the last stretch of a business-to-consumer

(B2C) parcel delivery to the final consignee who has to take

reception of the goods at home or at a cluster/collection

point’

3 Aized & Srai

(2013, p. 1)

Last mile ‘Last mile is the last part of the supply chain for the direct-

to-consumer market’

4 Minguela-Rata & De

Leeuw

(2013, p. 104)

Last mile ‘The last link in the supply chain to the consumer’

5 Woodard

(2013, p. 8 & 18)

Last mile ‘Last mile is the final portion of goods movement in which

the package is delivered to the intended recipient’

6 Edwards et al.,

(2010, pp. 103-4)

Last mile ‘Last mile as the last link in the supply chain to the home’

7 Souza et al.,

(2014, p. 426)

Last mile

delivery

‘Last mile delivery is the last leg in a supply chain whereby

the consignment is delivered to the (final) recipient’

8 Lewandowski

(2014, p. p. 184)

Last mile

delivery

‘The delivery process is a part of supply chain at the last

link, from last warehouse to recipient’

9 Edwards et al.,

(2010, pp. 103-4)

Last mile

delivery

‘Last mile delivery as deliveries of goods from local depots

to the home’

10 Chopra

(2003, p. 133)

Last mile

delivery

‘Last mile delivery refers to the distributor/retailer

delivering the product to the customers home instead of

using a package carrier’

11 Wu et al.,

(2015, p. 498)

Last mile

logistics

‘The final stage to deliver freight to urban customers from

the port or consolidation centers in a city’

12 Schliwa et al.

(2015, p. 52)

Last mile

logistics

‘Last mile logistics involves items being delivered from a

depot or hub a short distance to their final destination’

13 Aized & Srai

(2013, p. 1)

Last mile

logistics

distribution

system

‘Last mile logistic distribution system is the final

step in business-to-customer supply chain’

14 Scott, Anderka &

O’Donnell

(2009, p. 3)

Last mile

Logistics,

‘Last mile Logistics is the critical, final phase of supply-

chain management where goods move from a supplier to a

customer’

15 Tipagornwong &

Figliozzi

(2014, p. 77)

last mile of

supply

chains

‘The movement of goods from a distribution center or

warehouse to final stores and customers’

16 Kull, Boyer &

Calantone

(2007, p. 409)

Last mile

supply chain

‘Last mile supply chain is a portion of the supply chain

delivering products directly to the consumer’

17 Muñoz-Villamizar,

Montoya-Torres &

Vega-Mejía (2015, p.

263)

Last mile urban

freight

transport

‘The last link of complex supply chains involving numerous

stakeholders’

18 Suksri et al.,

(2012, p. 2)

Last kilometer

freight

distribution

‘Last kilometer freight distribution is the last link of the

supply chain that delivers goods to retailers in urban areas’

19 Morganti

(2011, p. 42)

Last food mile ‘Last food mile refers to the physical distribution of food

occurring in the last part of food supply chain. It refers to

the final delivery of perishable goods to urban food outlets’

20 Xu et al.

(2008, pp. 20-5)

Last mile of

online

shopping

‘The last mile of online shopping is the home delivery

logistics in e-commerce’

21 Allen et al.

(2007, p. 41)

Last mile

solutions

‘Last mile solutions are the logistics element of the

fulfillment process within consumer e-commerce

transactions (both business-to-consumer and consumer-to-

consumer - B2C and C2C), other remote purchases from

mail order, direct selling and television shopping

companies, and deliveries from retail outlets’

Table 3: Structure of definitions for Last Mile and related phrases

Def

No. Phrase Sequence

Main

process/theme Function Commodity From (Where) From (Whom) To (Where) To (Whom)

1 Last mile the final

segment supply chain

2 Last mile the last stretch parcel delivery delivery parcel/ goods business

home/

cluster/collectio

n point

consumer/final consignee

who has to take reception

of the goods

3 Last mile the last part supply chain direct-to-consumer

market

4 Last mile the last link the supply chain consumer

5 Last mile the final portion goods movement delivery/

movement package intended recipient

6 Last mile the last link supply chain home

7 Last mile delivery the last leg supply chain delivery consignment (final) recipient

8 Last mile delivery the last link a part of supply

chain delivery last warehouse recipient

9 Last mile delivery delivery goods local depots home

10 Last mile delivery delivery product customers home

11 Last mile logistics the final stage delivery freight

port/

consolidation

centers in a city

urban customers

12 Last mile logistics delivery items depot/ hub a short

distance final destination

13 Last mile logistic

distribution system the final step supply chain business customer

14 Last mile logistics the critical,

final phase

supply-chain

management movement goods supplier customer

15 last mile of supply

Chains movement goods

distribution

center/ warehouse final stores customers

16 Last mile supply

Chain a portion supply chain delivery products consumer

17 Last mile urban

freight transport the last link

complex supply

chains

18 Last kilometer freight

distribution the last link supply chain delivery goods retailers in urban areas

19 Last food mile

the last part/

the final

delivery

food supply chain delivery/

distribution

food/ perishable

goods

urban food

outlets

20 Last mile of online

shopping

the home

delivery

logistics

e-commerce delivery/

logistics home

21 Last mile solutions the logistics

element

the fulfillment

process within

consumer

ecommerce

transactions/

remote purchases

delivery/

logistics retail outlets

business/

consumer consumer

Table 4: Different choices of last mile delivery

Order Preparation

Point

Last Dispatch

Point

Delivery Point

Pick-up mode Handover mode

Factory √ √ √

Intermediate warehouse √ √ √

Store √ √ √ √

Distribution Centre √ √

Collection Centre √ √

Consignee place √

last mile delivery: a systematic literature review of

Documents