Last mile fulfilment and distribution in omni channel grocery retailing: a strategic planning framework
Purpose For traditional grocery retailers, the growing importance of online sales means creating new logistics models for omni channel (OC) management. Due to these transformational changes, retail research and practice are lacking a comprehensive view on integrated fulfilment and distribution concepts for home and store deliveries as they have evolved recently. The purpose of this paper is to develop a planning framework for last mile order fulfilment in OC grocery retailing and to discuss the advantages and disadvantages of different design concepts. Design/methodology/approach The findings were developed and evaluated by means of explorative interviews with grocery retail and logistics experts. Additionally, key literature on last mile order fulfilment and retail supply chain management was reviewed to supplement the integrated OC grocery operations planning framework. Findings OC logistics planning can be structured into back end fulfilment (e.g. warehouse and in store picking) and last mile dis.