Parcel lockers feasibility analysis considering multistakeholder perspectives

Abstract

The rapid growth of online shopping and B2C transactions, coupled with the increased demand for doorstep deliveries, has made last-mile delivery a major concern in the e-commerce industry. Traditional delivery methods are costly and unsustainable, leading to a rise in greenhouse gas emissions due to the increasing number of delivery vehicles. Parcel lockers at a public transportation location are one of the potential solutions for this problem. However, due to involvement of different stakeholders, it is important to consider perspective of these stakeholders before implementing a parcel locker. The research proposes a framework based on the MCDM methodology, particularly the Multi-Attribute-Multi-Criteria Analysis (MAMCA) approach using the best-worst method. A case of Beurs metro station in the city of Rotterdam is evaluated using the proposed framework. The result of case study concludes that parcel delivery companies and receivers are (highly) positive 142% and 119% respectively) for parcel locker delivery system at public transport location. However, the public transport operator is not very positive (only 5%) about installing lockers at the transport location. The transport operator is mostly concern about passenger safety as it shows negative perception in the result. The limited space available at the busy transport location, combined with the high volume of passengers using public transport, make it difficult to find suitable areas to install the lockers without impeding passenger flow demands meticulous planning and optimisation of available space. The result shows that safety is also concern of the receivers and the parcel delivery company. The research shows how the proposed framework can be used to assess bottleneck criteria for successful implementation of parcel lockers.