CLASIFICACIÓN DE LOS ACEROS SEGÚN LAS NORMAS MUNDIALES

Since the opening of the first online Pizza Hut almost 20 years ago, online retailing is greatly developed. The fast growth of dot-coms in the beginning was of short life with the bubble bursting in 2000. But also after the collapse of the many dot-com companies, the online retail market has been greatly evolved. This chapter reviewed therefore the literature on online retailing since 1995, taking into account that the landscape is changed and that the findings of the early studies might not be applicable today. Also, most research on e-fulfilment is done in Finland (as part of the ECOMLOG project⁵) and in the United Kingdom. The nature and rate of the online retail growth between these countries, and other countries, has varied a lot. Also the home delivery services vary significantly between the countries. This make is even more difficult to generalise and extrapolate the results of previous research. Even so, this chapter provides an overview of the concepts of online retailing and discusses the logistics aspects behind an online order.

E-fulfilment differs from traditional fulfilment to stores in a number of ways. It is more difficult to manage due to the large number of small orders to be picked and delivered to the homes of numerous consumers in markets in which demand is relatively volatile (Bayles 2001; Du et al., 2005). At the same time there is less room for mistakes; the consumer expects an even higher service quality than in conventional shopping (Dadzie and Winston, 2007). This is especially important as the nature of the fulfilment process influences the repurchase intention of the consumer and therefore future sales (Chiu et al., 2009). Providing an efficient fulfilment process is therefore crucial.

5 ECOMLOG project, running from 1999 to 2002 at the Helsinki University of Technology, studied cost-efficient distribution models for e-grocery shopping in Finland.

The organisation of the fulfilment process depends on the presence and nature of a physical channel. Brick & Click retailers, and especially grocery retailers, often make use of their local stores for the picking of online orders. Due to low investment costs, in-store picking is cost-effective with low online sales and is therefore suitable for a fast roll out of the online business (Fernie and McKinnon, 2003). When sales increase above a critical threshold, a dedicated e-fulfilment centre becomes economically beneficial.

Where exactly the cross-over point is located depends on the handling and transportation costs, inventory pooling opportunities, and the fixed costs of the stores and e-fulfilment centre (Bendoly et al., 2007; Bretthauer et al., 2010). Pure players either make use of purpose-built e-fulfilment centres from the start, or (more often) they outsource the fulfilment allowing them to focus on the core competence of marketing and customer acquisition while benefiting from lower distribution costs (Bayles, 2001).

The home delivery service is influenced by the customer density, the time-windows offered, and the lead time between order and delivery. Lengthening delivery times, load consolidation and unattended delivery can substantially reduce transport costs per order.

However, in some sectors of the online market home deliveries are shifting towards the more expensive solutions such as same day delivery (even within 90 minute after ordering) and one-hour time slots, offering greater convenience at the expense of much reduced transport efficiency. Also solutions where the consumer can decide when to pick up a package, like click & collect, CDPs and secure locker boxes, are emerging more frequently and can reduce the home delivery costs while improving the customer service.

Some of the early research on online retailing suggested that it would create an opportunity for manufacturers to sell direct to consumer and bypass retailers. However, until today little evidence exists of this, particularly in the FMCG sector. Even though there are threats in bypassing the retailer, like delisting, manufacturers can work together to offer the products directly to the consumer. One of such partnership example is alice.com, an online marketplace in the United States that sells product directly from the manufacturer to the consumer (Alice, 2013). With one in four FMCG manufacturers in the United Kingdom looking to open an online shop in the future, disintermediation might perhaps be still in its infancy.

Despite increase in amount of research there as still major gaps in our knowledge. For example the relative environmental impact of different e-fulfilment systems is still

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unknown. It is sometimes argued that online retailing has a lower impact on the environment than traditional retailing. Also in the grocery sector several claims are made (for example by Ocado). However, as shown in this chapter, many factors influence the performance of the e-fulfilment. For example, time windows and the use of unattended delivery systems can greatly influence the kilometres driven and therefore the transport emissions. The overall outcome will not only depend on the distance driven, but also on the energy use in the picking location and on the consequences of online retailing like returns. Therefore the environmental outcome will depend on the design of the e-fulfilment model. The next chapter will therefore review the literature and studies available on the environmental effect of online retailing.

CHAPTER 3: ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT OF ONLINE