E-Commerce Logistics

Abstract

E-commerce has attracted increasing interest at the beginning of the 21st century, in both academia and practice. Today, the Internet is commonly used by both consumers and businesses as a means of purchasing goods. The authors’ study focuses on e-commerce logistics, focusing on the physical delivery of goods sold over the Internet. Based on a systematic review of articles, the authors will summarize and analyze the main findings of academic literature and highlight certain research issues recognized on this topic. The main objective is to study the state-of-the-art of e-commerce logistics research and future research needs. The reviewed articles have been formed into seven categories, and each category is discussed in the paper. The largest categories discuss e-commerce logistics in relation to retail strategies, logistics strategies and structures, and buyer preferences. Although logistics is a critical part of e-commerce, it seems based on the review that not many e-commerce logistics solutions have been developed or studied in current research, and logistics has often been treated as only a minor issue among other issues in e-commerce.