Parcel-Locker-Sharing Model for E-Commerce Logistics Service Providers
Abstract
:1. Introduction
- The scenarios in which the parcel-locker-sharing model would be profitable for the asset operators, the non-asset operators, or both;
- In the profitable scenarios of the parcel-locker-sharing model, the optimal number of locker slots that the two parties should share and the price range charged for leasing parcel-locker slots balance both parties’ benefits;
- The application of the parcel-locker-sharing model in practice to alleviate last-mile delivery problems in the e-commerce environment.
2. Literature Review
3. Materials and Methods
4. Mathematical Modelling
4.1. Problem Description
4.2. Assumptions
4.2.1. Market Demand
4.2.2. Cost Index
4.2.3. Locker Capacity
4.3. Profit Model
4.3.1. No-Sharing Operations
- (1)
- The profit of the non-asset operator is comprised of the revenue of the delivery service, , minus the costs of door-to-door delivery, ;
- (2)
- The profit of the asset operator is comprised of the revenue of the delivery service, , minus the costs of delivery using a parcel locker, , and the operating cost for both used lockers, , and unused lockers, .
4.3.2. Sharing Operations
- (3)
- The profit of the non-asset operator under the sharing operations is comprised of the revenue of delivery service, , minus the rental costs for using the parcel locker, , the costs of delivery using parcel locker, , and the costs of door-to-door delivery when the delivery demand is larger than the locker supply, ;
- (4)
- The profit of the asset operator under the sharing operations is composed of the revenue of the delivery service, , together with the parcel-locker rental revenue, , minus the costs of delivery using the parcel locker, , the costs of door-to-door delivery in case the unrented locker capacity is not enough to satisfy the delivery demand, , and the operating costs of used lockers, and the operating costs of unused lockers, .
4.3.3. Sharing Benefit: Sharing Profit–No-Sharing Profit
- (5)
- The profit brought by adopting a sharing mechanism for the non-asset operator is computed by subtracting the profit under the parcel-locker-sharing operations (3) from the profit under the no-sharing operations (1) of the non-asset operator;
- (6)
- The profit brought by adopting a sharing mechanism for the asset operator is computed by subtracting the profit under the parcel-locker-sharing operations (4) from the profit under the no-sharing operations (2) of the asset operator;The total supply-chain profit is calculated by adding the profit of the two participating parties of the sharing mechanism, including the non-asset operator (5) and the asset operator (6).
- (7)
- The positive difference represents that the sharing mechanism increases the profit for a particular party or the total supply chain. In contrast, a negative result means a profit decrease is incurred, and the sharing model is unprofitable.
4.4. Mathematical Analysis
Mathematical Model and Computation
4.5. Numerical Analysis
4.5.1. Parameter Setting
4.5.2. Computational Experiments and Discussion
5. Discussions
6. Implications and Limitations
7. Conclusions
Author Contributions
Funding
Data Availability Statement
Conflicts of Interest
References
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Notation | Description | |
---|---|---|
Parameter | Delivery service charge of asset operator | |
Delivery service charge of non-asset operator | ||
Door-to-door delivery cost of asset operator | ||
Door-to-door delivery cost of non-asset operator | ||
Operating cost for used locker | ||
Operating cost for unused locker | ||
Capacity of asset operator (total number of locker slots) | ||
Delivery cost using parcel lockers of asset operator | ||
Delivery cost using parcel lockers of non-asset operator | ||
Delivery demand for asset operator | ||
Delivery demand for non-asset operator | ||
Decision Variable | Number of lockers rented to the non-asset operator | |
Rental price for non-asset operator |
Parameter | Value |
---|---|
Delivery service charge of asset operator, | USD 15 |
Delivery service charge of non-asset operator, | USD 13 |
Operating cost of used parcel locker, | USD 2 |
Operating cost of unused parcel locker, | USD 1 |
Delivery cost using parcel lockers for asset operator, | USD 1.5 |
Delivery cost using parcel lockers for non-asset operator, | USD 1.5 |
Locker capacity, | 1000 |
Delivery demand for asset operator, | ~N (600, 30) |
Delivery demand for non-asset operator, | ~N (500, 40) |
Scenario | Profitability | Strategy | |
---|---|---|---|
1 | , | Profitable | Rent at |
2 | , | Undetermined | Do not rent or rent K |
3 | Profitable | Rent K | |
4 | Unprofitable | No-sharing |
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Pang, K.-W.; Xu, J.; Jiang, R.; Liu, R. Parcel-Locker-Sharing Model for E-Commerce Logistics Service Providers. Mathematics 2024, 12, 2802. https://doi.org/10.3390/math12182802
Pang K-W, Xu J, Jiang R, Liu R. Parcel-Locker-Sharing Model for E-Commerce Logistics Service Providers. Mathematics. 2024; 12(18):2802. https://doi.org/10.3390/math12182802
Chicago/Turabian StylePang, King-Wah, Jingyi Xu, Ruixuan Jiang, and Ruofan Liu. 2024. "Parcel-Locker-Sharing Model for E-Commerce Logistics Service Providers" Mathematics 12, no. 18: 2802. https://doi.org/10.3390/math12182802