Home delivery services: innovations and emerging needs

The increasing amount of small-sized shipments and their frequency variation, due to the growth of e-commerce, pose a great challenge to logistics service providers. At the same time, new technologies and innovations are being developed with the aim of increasing the efficiency of logistics service provider, as much as foster the creation of new enterprises and business models in the home delivery sector. The aim of this paper is to provide an exploratory analysis of the fit between existing home delivery innovative services, requirements, and issues that users might have. To do so, we review the main features of innovative services and we compare them with the findings from an online survey. For each service, we identify the value propositions, and the issues the service aims to address. In particular, four innovative services are reviewed. Through the online survey, we identify user’s habits, requirements and perceptions regarding the effectiveness and features of the innovative services.