In an age of expanding online commerce, is home delivery greener than sending full truckloads of goods to stores and then customers driving to them? A detailed regional study finds compelling answers.
Readers who were teenagers in the 1980s may remember driving to a Sam Goody store to buy music. You probably also remember your disappointment when sometimes the tape or CD wasn’t in stock when you arrived. Perhaps you returned to your car and headed for Tower Records to try your luck there.
Your kids would probably find this story inconceivable today. The advent of the internet has profoundly altered consumer expectations. Immediate gratification is getting closer by the day; you can now obtain your favorite song in seconds, and order and receive physical goods in as little as a few hours in some urban areas.
Today’s ninth-grader expects to find any product she wants in seconds and order it right away on her smartphone. What’s more, she expects that the order will be accurate, complete, well-packed, and easy to return if desired.
Goodchild, Anne Victoria, Erica Wygonik, and Bill Keough. "Deliver it all." Supply Chain Management Review (2016).