Performance Measurement of E-commerce Collection and Delivery Points

Abstract: Collection and delivery points have become increasingly important due to the current e-commerce trend. In addition to the general rise within e- commerce the extraordinary situation with an ongoing SARS-CoV-2- pandemic has further increased the demand for sufficient parcel deliveries. The purpose of this master thesis has been to investigate how different stakeholders connected to e-commerce measure performance of collection and delivery points. Observations and interviews with distribution companies, omni-channel retailers and parcel agents have been conducted. This thesis also aims at investigating whether the current way of measuring performance can be improved and how that then would be possible. Collection and delivery points for e-commerce deliveries, including parcel lockers, parcel agents and in-store pickup, lies within the scope of this thesis. The current situation has been analyzed by mapping out the performance indicators currently used by the different stakeholders. Potential of improvement has then been identified. The result shows that stakeholders, as well as the society in general, could benefit from an applied system perspective. Suboptimization, both within and between different groups of stakeholders, could be avoided if a holistic system approach for performance measuring were to be implemented. Incitements for collaboration could also arise as a result of implementation. This thesis also addresses the greatest challenges related to the implementation of a system perspective. The challenges are mainly comprised by the lack of cost and benefit sharing as well as reluctance to share information and data. The prospect of the realization of this master thesis is to provide stakeholders connected to e-commerce deliveries with a new approach to performance measurement. By applying a holistic view, synergies could be created, and the efficient frontier be moved forward.