Urban Logistics and E-Grocery: Have Proximity Delivery Services a Positive Impact on Shopping Trips?

This paper proposes a discussion of three scenarios related to e-grocery distribution developments, in order to identify and analyze the impacts of new forms of proximity deliveries on households’ shopping trip flows. Firstly, we present the two basic logistics models adopted by online retailers (in-warehouse picking and in-store picking), as well as the three main proximity delivery approaches in e-grocery. Secondly, we focus on city logistics, more particularly on the relations between e-grocery development and the related various urban goods movement flows. Thirdly, we propose to study the impact of these systems on consumer's purchasing trips and, to this end, we use an empirical simulation approach in order to make a comparison of these three scenarios.