The Increase in E-commerce Purchases and the Impact on the Newest European City Logistics Development

Abstract

Background: In recent times, the advancement of urban logistics has encountered a series of pivotal challenges pertaining to the efficient distribution of goods and associated concerns such as congestion and pollution. In response, efforts have been directed towards identifying enhanced solutions. Notably, the growing development of electronic commerce of electronic commerce has underscored the necessity of devising viable approaches, both functionally and economically, to bolster the evolution of city logistics. The document focuses on a comparative analysis of e-commerce purchase demand data in Europe, focusing on two product macro-categories, namely clothing and e-grocery. It points out that the pandemic, but the health crisis has accelerated this practice. Objective: The acquired findings unequivocally validate the necessity for a fundamental reassessment of delivery transport methods, taking into account the perishability of materials, sustainable urban accessibility, and the incorporation of cutting-edge technologies. Methods: The comparison in the different European contexts and the different trends recorded with the variation of the macro product categories was defined by QGIS maps and they underline how some of the states have restored their context of demand for mobility while others have preferred online commerce by reducing physical movements. Results: Analysis of the available data revealed that between 2020 and 2022 e-commerce concerning clothing, online food purchase and home delivery these are the findings; for the clothing category,, the distribution remained very similar; for the online food purchase category, the situation is quite similar and for home delivery category of ready-to-eat restaurant and fast-food food, many countries exceeded percentages of 20%. Conclusion: This could lead to an improvement in urban mobility planning, prompting an integration of these issues within the Sustainable Urban Mobility Plans (SUMPs) and at the same time it would allow logistics service managers to be able to introduce more sustainable and efficient modal forms.