Coincident with the rapid growth of omni-channel retailing, growing urbanization, changing consumer behavior, and increasing focus on sustainability, academic interest in the area of last mile logistics has significantly increased. The growth in academic publications has been tremendous, with three out of four articles appearing within the past five years. The influx of research spans multiple disciplines and various methodologies, underlining the complexity and fragmentation of last mile logistics research, which leads to a lack of unity in the understanding of the concept. We provide a systematic review and classification of the literature to provide a more coherent view of last mile logistics research. The review covers 155 peer-reviewed journal publications focusing on last mile logistics. Findings demonstrate that the literature embraces a diversity of aspects and facets that are classified into five themes: emerging trends and technologies, operational optimization, supply chain structures, performance measurement, and policy. Further, we propose a framework of last mile logistics literature that comprises five components and their interrelationships, namely, last mile logistics, last mile distribution, last mile fulfillment, last mile transport, and last mile delivery. The results provide a foundation for further development of this research area by proposing avenues for future research.

Purpose: The success of last-mile delivery is dependent on consumer acceptance of such services, yet little is known about unattended delivery experience. This paper's purpose is to provide empirically based understanding of customer experience dimensions in unattended home delivery.Design/methodology/approach: Using an engaged scholarship approach, this field study investigated nine households that actively used an unattended delivery service for a period of six to nine months. Empirical data were collected primarily from in-depth interviews.Findings: The study demonstrates that unattended delivery experience is a multidimensional construct that comprises consumers' cognitive, emotional, behavioral, sensorial, physical and social responses to the service. The empirical evidence provides rich descriptions of each customer experience dimension, and the research offers a framework and propositions on unattended delivery experience.Practical implications: The results guide and support managers in assessing and developing delivery services using a consumer-centric approach to enhance customer experience.Originality/value: This research is one of the first to address unattended delivery experience by providing a comprehensive, empirically grounded framework. The results provide a foundation for future investigations of last-mile delivery experience dimensions.

The use of disposable and reusable packaging is a hot topic in policy and practice, but different studies have come to different conclusions on when each packaging type is the more sustainable alternative. The purpose of this paper is to map and review scientific literature that compares disposable and reusable packaging for food, beverages and e‐commerce from a sustainability perspective. The methodology is a systematic literature review, which identifies 91 scientific papers. The paper describes and analyses the origin, characteristics and state of current knowledge and then proposes future research directions within five areas. It identifies and presents what is known in literature to achieve environmental and social sustainability, as well as circularity for disposable compared to reusable packaging. The review shows that the literature is to great extent qualitative, often studying individual products in a specific context. European studies dominate the current literature, and many of them revolve around a few types of products and packaging. Slightly under half of the studies use the life cycle assessment (LCA) methodology. The review of these studies provides some indicative suggestions for when disposable and reusable packaging is environmentally preferable, but the number of LCA studies is too limited, and their content too fragmented to draw general conclusions about this. Overall, the review of 91 articles shows a great need for continued research that compares the environmental efficiency of disposable and reusable packaging. It also highlights the necessity for more knowledge to be able to clearly state under what conditions and in what contexts disposable and reusable packaging are the most sustainable options.

Purpose: In the rapidly growing e-grocery segment, unattended delivery is an emerging practice with the potential to offer a superior delivery experience. The purpose of this study is to contribute to the body of knowledge for unattended grocery delivery services by empirically identifying and describing the forms and determinants of customer expectations.Design/methodology/approach: A multiple case study of potential early adopters was conducted to explore customer expectations of unattended grocery delivery services. Empirical data collected from direct observations and semi-structured interviews with ten Swedish households were coded and put through a single-case as well as a cross-case analysis revealing emerging patterns from which propositions were formed.Findings: The iteration of theory and data in the case study resulted in a conceptual model of service expectations and determinants, containing six propositions. The study reveals a clear pattern that consumers expect to save time, gain flexibility and benefit from the ease of use of the service, while they predict sufficient security. Moreover, consumers’ desire open access features from retailers and service providers, integrated product returns service and nondescript hardware designs. The findings suggest that these service expectations are determined by personal needs, technology literacy and situational factors. The identified personal needs are stress reduction, limiting social interaction and increasing spare time.Research limitations/implications: To support further theory development, this study presents six propositions for the types, forms and determinants of customer expectations of unattended grocery delivery.Practical implications: This study provides managers with up-to-date insights into customer expectations and offers guidance in designing and developing unattended grocery delivery services.Originality/value: This study contains the first in-depth analysis of customer expectations of unattended grocery delivery services, which are increasingly used for last mile e-grocery delivery.