Yulia Vakulenko
Lecturer
Customer value in parcel lockers. An initial qualitative investigation
Author
Summary, in English
If you live in Sweden (and I guess you do), there is a two in three chance that you
have shopped online at least once in the last month. You may also know that in
Sweden on average, each of us spends over 3000 SEK per month buying goods and
services online. It is expected that over 2 billion people will be shopping online by
the year 2020, thus generating a global revenue of 4.1 trillion USD. One image that
does not usually come to mind when depicting the modern state of e-commerce is
the gigantic mountain of parcels that will have to be delivered along with the growth
of e-retail. The parcel locker is one of the tools that has the potential to address the
emerging delivery challenges. This form of self-service technology has been
implemented in some national markets, but the research has yet to pay significant
attention to this tool that can partly resolve issues in the e-commerce last mile
delivery.
The research presented follows an inductive qualitative design in order to
generate and present knowledge that can answer the question that keeps e-retailers
and logistics service providers from committing themselves to this technologyenabled
service: What’s in it for the consumer? The research features two studies:
a two-stage systematic literature review and a parcel locker usability test with focus
group interviews. These studies resulted in the three appended papers. The findings
are presented in the form of primary statistical analyses, frameworks, models, and
three propositions about customer values in parcel lockers.
The main findings and research contributions are presented in the three papers,
where the knowledge necessary to answer the research question is developed in a
continuous manner. The research concludes that the customer experience and value
co-creation of self-service kiosks – and parcel lockers in particular – are cyclical in
nature. The elements of the customer value created with parcel lockers can be
classified into four types: functional, emotional, social, and financial. The value
created is built upon various interrelated elements that can weigh positively or
negatively in the value creation process. The findings support managerial decision-making for service providers of parcel locker networks in the stages of design and
in actual operations. They also provide the foundation for further investigations.
This licentiate thesis theoretically merges the frames of the three appended papers
and maps potential research directions for further studies.
have shopped online at least once in the last month. You may also know that in
Sweden on average, each of us spends over 3000 SEK per month buying goods and
services online. It is expected that over 2 billion people will be shopping online by
the year 2020, thus generating a global revenue of 4.1 trillion USD. One image that
does not usually come to mind when depicting the modern state of e-commerce is
the gigantic mountain of parcels that will have to be delivered along with the growth
of e-retail. The parcel locker is one of the tools that has the potential to address the
emerging delivery challenges. This form of self-service technology has been
implemented in some national markets, but the research has yet to pay significant
attention to this tool that can partly resolve issues in the e-commerce last mile
delivery.
The research presented follows an inductive qualitative design in order to
generate and present knowledge that can answer the question that keeps e-retailers
and logistics service providers from committing themselves to this technologyenabled
service: What’s in it for the consumer? The research features two studies:
a two-stage systematic literature review and a parcel locker usability test with focus
group interviews. These studies resulted in the three appended papers. The findings
are presented in the form of primary statistical analyses, frameworks, models, and
three propositions about customer values in parcel lockers.
The main findings and research contributions are presented in the three papers,
where the knowledge necessary to answer the research question is developed in a
continuous manner. The research concludes that the customer experience and value
co-creation of self-service kiosks – and parcel lockers in particular – are cyclical in
nature. The elements of the customer value created with parcel lockers can be
classified into four types: functional, emotional, social, and financial. The value
created is built upon various interrelated elements that can weigh positively or
negatively in the value creation process. The findings support managerial decision-making for service providers of parcel locker networks in the stages of design and
in actual operations. They also provide the foundation for further investigations.
This licentiate thesis theoretically merges the frames of the three appended papers
and maps potential research directions for further studies.
Department/s
- Packaging Logistics
Publishing year
2019
Language
English
Document type
Licentiate thesis
Topic
- Transport Systems and Logistics
Status
Published
Supervisor
- Daniel Hellström
- Klas Hjort
- Pejvak Oghazi
ISBN/ISSN/Other
- ISBN: 978-91-7753-984-1