The prospects of different last-mile delivery modes of e-commerce logistics in Hong Kong

Abstract

In recent years, online shopping is becoming more and more popular in Hong Kong, which brings some new challenges to e-commerce logistics, especially in the last-mile delivery, a crucial link that cost a lot in e-commerce supply chain. The selection of delivery modes in last-mile delivery depends on the delivery environment so that different areas have different delivery strategies. In addition, few of studies have been conducted to analyse the last-mile delivery in Hong Kong. Therefore, this study aims to discuss the prospects of different last-mile delivery modes in Hong Kong.

Based on the first-hand questionnaire survey on the Hong Kong consumers and the other consumer surveys conducted by UPS and Google, the online shopping behaviours and the logistics preferences of Hong Kong consumers are found. The consumer’s shopping behaviour is relevant with the characteristics of the products while the logistics preferences reveal the delivery demand of the consumers. Both of which have significant impacts on the decision of choosing delivery strategies.

Combining the situation of Hong Kong, the study analyses the advantages and disadvantages of different last-mile delivery modes from different aspects including vehicle type, delivery coverage, time windows, parcel types and delivery cost. The findings show that choosing an appropriate delivery mode is often a trade-off between delivery efficiency and service level. As a result, although collection-and-delivery point (CDP) is a cost-effective mode in Hong Kong when compared with attended home delivery (AHD) and reception box (RB), it is unwise to simply use CDP as the only delivery mode in last-mile delivery. Under some special condition, for instance, when delivering some high value and large size products, it is better to use AHD rather than CDP and RB.

Hence, the dissertation concludes by giving some recommendations on how could logistics service providers formulate delivery strategies and the general procedures they could follow. In addition, the government should also make efforts on facilitating the promotion of green fuel vehicles and the construction of corresponding infrastructures. However, due to the limited data and the complexity of last-mile delivery, further studies are still need to be done in the future.