UK Researchers recently published an analysis of online shopping and home delivery in the UK. The comprehensie report contains a review and analysis of online retail shopping and home delivery operations in the UK. It has been carried out as part of the EPSRC-funded Freight Traffic Control (FTC) 2050 project, which is investigating the scope for collaboration in order to facilitate greater efficiency in urban freight transport and logistics activities.
The report:
- Presents information and data about the online shopping market in the UK, comprising the non-food, grocery, and takeaway food and home delivered meals sectors in the UK. It presents the sales revenue and growth rate of the online shopping market as a whole, as well as in these three sectors, together with insight into leading retailers and forecasts of growth. Consumers’ views and concerns about online shopping are also discussed. It also addresses the issue of profitability for retailers and logistics carriers in the various online shopping sectors, and considers how profitability can potentially be enhanced.
- Considers the home delivery requirements and operations that support the online shopping market in the UK, comprising the non-food, grocery, and takeaway food and home delivered meals sectors in the UK. Insight is provided into differences and similarities in logistics and home delivery operations in these three sectors. General developments in logistics and delivery operations that support online shopping are presented, together with detailed insight into innovation and challenges in each of the three sectors.
- Analyses the current traffic and environmental impacts of home delivery activities in the UK, and together with possible future developments in online shopping and home delivery operations and their likely traffic and environmental impacts.
Allen, J., Piecyk, M., & Piotrowska, M. (2017). An analysis of online shopping and home delivery in the UK.
Freight Traffic Control 2050
Freight transport currently makes up around 16% of all road vehicle activity in UK cities and by 2030, the EU would like to see largely CO2-free logistics systems operating in UK urban centres. With van traffic predicted to increase by 20% in London by 2030, and the uptake of alternatively fuelled and electric goods vehicles slow, more radical strategies are needed to reduce the numbers and impacts of freight vehicles in cities.
An analysis of online shopping and home delivery in the UK has been produced as part of a research project entitled “Freight Traffic Control 2050 (FTC2050): Transforming the energy demands of last-mile urban freight through collaborative logistics”. It is an EPSRC-funded project that began in April 2016 and will run for 36 months.
Working with parcel carriers in London, this project will examine the potential for closer operational collaboration between carriers to reduce urban traffic and energy demand whilst maintaining customer service levels, and evaluate to what extent such relationships can develop naturally within a commercial setting or whether a 3rd party ‘Freight Traffic Controller’ (FTC) would be necessary to ensure equitable distribution of demand across a city.
More information: http://www.ftc2050.com/