E-commerce logistics in supply chain management. Implementations and future perspective in furniture industry
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/IMDS-09-2016-0398 |
| Date | 04 December 2017 |
| Published date | 04 December 2017 |
| Pages | 2263-2286 |
| Author | Ying Yu,Xin Wang,Ray Y. Zhong,G.Q. Huang |
| Subject Matter | Information & knowledge management,Information systems,Data management systems,Knowledge management,Knowledge sharing,Management science & operations,Supply chain management,Supply chain information systems,Logistics,Quality management/systems |
E-commerce logistics in supply
chain management
Implementations and future perspective in
furniture industry
Ying Yu and Xin Wang
Department of Industrial and Manufacturing Systems Engineering,
The University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong
Ray Y. Zhong
Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of Auckland,
Auckland, New Zealand, and
G.Q. Huang
Department of Industrial and Manufacturing Systems Engineering,
The University of Hong Kong –HKU-ZIRI Lab for Physical Internet, Hong Kong
Abstract
Purpose –The purpose of this paper is to present the state-of-the-art E-commerce logistics in supply chain
management by investigating worldwide implementations and corresponding models together with
supporting techniques via furniture industry.
Design/methodology/approach –Typical E-commerce logistics companies from North America, Europe,
and Asia Pacific are comprehensively investigated so as to get the lessons and insights from these practices.
Findings –Future technologies like Internet of Things, Big Data Analytics, and Cloud Computing would be
possibly adopted to enhance the E-commerce logistics in terms of system level, operational level, and decision-
making level that may be real time and intelligent in the next decade.
Research limitations/implications –This paper takes the furniture industry for example to illustrate the
E-commerce logistics and supply chain management (LSCM). Other industries like electronic appliance
industry are not considered.
Practical implications –Opportunities and future perspectives are summarized from practical
implementations so that interested parties like E-commerce and logistics companies are able to get some
guidance when they are contemplating the business.
Social implications –E-commerce is booming with the development of new business models and will be
continuously boosted in the near future. With large number of enterprises carrying out E-commerce, logistics
has been largely influenced.
Originality/value –Insights and lessons from this paper are significant for academia and practitioners for
considering E-commerce LSCM.
Keywords Logistics, Implementation, Supply chain management, E-commerce, State-of-the-art
Paper type General review
1. Introduction
Logistics andsupply chain management (LSCM) hasbeen greatly influenced by the booming
of E-commerce when we are now already overwhelmed by its successes in both developed and
emerging economies. E-commerce LSCM plays an important role i n the modern logistics. It was
estimated that E-commerce logistics could cost 40 percent of the price that customers pay for
the goods (Bayles and Bhatia, 2000). In China, it contributed 18 percent of its GDP particularly
in 2014,almost double the averagefigure of developedeconomies (Gui et al., 2014). E-commerce
logistics usually involves three main phases. The first phase is the replenishment of goods
from product manufacturers to distribution centers (DCs) or warehouses. The second phase
involves order fulfillment at E-commerce DCs through order sortation, picking, and packing
operations. The third phase involves the fast delivery of orders from DCs to customers.
Industrial Management & Data
Systems
Vol. 117 No. 10, 2017
pp. 2263-2286
© Emerald PublishingLimited
0263-5577
DOI 10.1108/IMDS-09-2016-0398
Received 27 September 2016
Revised 3 February 2017
Accepted 9 March 2017
The current issue and full text archive of this journal is available on Emerald Insight at:
www.emeraldinsight.com/0263-5577.htm
2263
E-commerce
logistics in
supply chain
management
In the E-commerce LSCM, there are two major types of business models: business to
consumer (B2C) and business to business (B2B) (Bolumole et al., 2015). In B2C model,
business website is a place where all the transactions take place between a business
organization and consumer directly (Mangiaracina et al., 2015). In this model, a consumer
visits the website and places an order to buy the products. The business organization,
after receiving the orders, will dispatch the goods to the customer. Successful examples
like Amazon.com and Priceline.com are B2C leaders (Rappa, 2008; Ta et al., 2015).
Key features of this model are heavy advertising required to attract large customers,
high investment of hardware and software, and good customer care service (Nica, 2015).
B2B refers to a situation where one business makes a commercial transaction
with another, thus, the transaction volume of B2B is much higher than the volume of B2C.
In a typical supply chain, there will be many B2B transactions involving sub
components or raw materials. But only one B2C transaction specifically identifies
the sale of finished product to the end customer. The purchase of B2B products
is much riskier than B2C products (Ta et al., 2015). The reason is that purchasing a
wrong product or at the wrong terms can put the entire purchasing business at risk
(Sila, 2013).
Third-party logistics (3PL) service providers have been increasing the investments in
expanding their capacities and major E-commerce players s uch as Amazon, Alibaba,
and JD.Doc have invested heavily in creatingtheirownlogisticsfacilitieslikeDCs
(Ellinger et al., 2003). Businesses have a common expectation for a paradigm shift in
E-commerce logistics to reduce, if not eliminate, the bottleneck. A typical DC may have
Automated Storage and Retrieval Systems which have the ability to sort, sequence, buffer,
and store a wide range of items with high accuracy and efficiency (Ross et al., 2009).
Precision racks allow for high storage density and fast location access. Cranes or shuttles
move up and down aisles with accelerated long-distance travels (Faber et al., 2013).
Load handlers are configured to suit the size, shape, and weight of the loads.
Modern logistics have become the most important means to improve the efficiency of
material flows and to reduce distribution costs in various industries. At the same time,
recent development of E-commerce also contributed to the expansion of the logistics market,
promoting the development of technologies related to logistics. Large number of practices
have been carried out in the E-commerce logistics (Bask et al., 2012; Masmoudi et al., 2014,
Ramanathan et al., 2014). In order to figure out current movement of E-commerce logistics,
this paper gives a comprehensive state-of-the-art review of E-commerce logistics in supply
chain management so as to get the lessons and insights from various practices for guiding
future implementations. This paper summarizes the logistics models and supporting
techniques for E-commerce logistics and highlights the challenges, opportunities, and future
perspectives. Case study methodology is applied in this paper. Yin (1981) claimed that case
study was a systematic research tool which can be done by using qualitative and
quantitative evidence, to find the advantages and disadvantages of the real firms. In our
paper, we searched rich sets of reports, videos, and academic papers from case study
companies to make comparison study based on different supply chain logistics service
phases. Weakness and strength from the practice case are summarized and then
suggestions are provided for future development.
The rest of this paper is organized as follows. Section 2 reviews the business models and
supporting techniques in E-commerce LSCM. Section 3 presents a worldwide
implementation categorized in three major areas like North America, Europe, and Asia
Pacific. Section 4 presents the insights from practices in terms of the success factors and
guidelines for future trends. Challenges and opportunities are summarized in Section 5
which highlights the future perspectives including business models, technologies, and
implementations. Section 6 concludes this paper.
2264
IMDS
117,10
To continue reading
Request your trial