Modeling Individualized Sustainable Last Mile Logistics

The online grocery trade has received an additional boost from the Covid pandemic. The delivery of such purchases places particular demands on last mile logistics since consumers demand more and more individualized delivery options, e.g., regarding the delivery arrival or the type of transport. At the same time, many consumers are becoming more environmentally conscious, so there is a need to examine further how this particular consumer behavior affects the sustainability of deliveries. This paper develops and presents a simulation model, which considers grocery delivery under different framework conditions. The examined scenarios show that a change in consumer behavior directly impacts last mile logistics systems, mainly by increasing the total number of orders and a slight reduction in emissions through improved vehicle utilization. Nevertheless, the results show that without sufficiently high utilization of delivery vehicles, shopping trips by private car may cause fewer emissions.