Last-Mile Delivery Options: Exploring Customer Preferences and Challenges

As consumers turn more and more to on-line shopping, requirements such as on time delivery and delivery cost saving are of major importance. Retail and logistics companies struggle to find strategies that offer a successful and fast last-mile delivery service that satisfies consumers’ preferences and expectations. Last-mile delivery is an opportunity, as well as a challenge for e-commerce retailers and logistics companies because it needs to satisfy customers’ preferences, offering the best customer experience. This paper explores Greek consumers’ preferences of last-mile delivery alternatives. We investigate the potential of using drone delivery and the challenges the consumers face during tracking their order delivery. We conducted a survey with 174 participants exploring their online shopping behavior, which delivery options they prefer, what delivery challenges they face (e.g. home delivery without prior notice) and which factors influence their delivery decisions (e.g. delivery time-flexibility and time saving). Keywords: Last-mile delivery, Drones, pick-up point