Project number: MF-5.1b

Funding source: Volvo Research and Educational Foundations

Performance period: 1/1/2015 to 12/31/2021

Project description

Rapid advances in information and communications technology (ICT) and other related demographic changes such as the increase in one-person households and the growth of aging society, intensified urbanization, and other socioeconomic factors have led to newly developed sales and consumption patterns. E-commerce accounts for this new change in consumer and producer behavior. Korea has experienced a remarkably rapid growth in e-commerce. In fact, the total sales of e-commerce had increased by 2.5 billion dollars between 2014 and 2016. Out of this sales increase, 1.3 billion dollars was produced from online shopping sales, which explain around 63% of the whole sales increase in commerce for the two years in Korea. As e-commerce has developed, more diversified kinds of goods have been traded through online shopping using the Internet and mobile Apps. As a result, new and various logistics service needs - rapid, convenient, inexpensive, and customized, etc. - have been generated.

Furthermore, COVID-19 pandemic has had a significant impact not only on the consumption behavior patterns of home-based shopping customers but also on the last-mile delivery services in terms of quality as well as quantity.

The main objective of this project is to explore the changing patterns of home-based shopping and its supportive last-mile delivery services in Korea. Hence, the research concludes to propose strategy recommendations for enhancing the efficiency and quality of last-mile delivery services to meet customers evolving demands in the era of a new normal.