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Identifyingthesuccessfactorsine-groceryhomedeliveryMikkoPunakiviandJuhaSaranenIntroductionOneofthemostsignificantobstaclesforthegrowthofe-commerceingeneralandthee-grocerybusinessinparticularisthelackofasuitablelogisticalhomedeliveryinfrastructure.Bythiswemeanalogisticalsystemincludingcontroloftheinformationflowandphysicallogistics.Thepresentdeliverysystems,suchaspostalorcourierservices,arenotsuitablewhenconsideringtheneedsinthegrocerybusiness.Someexamplesoftheissuesthatthee-groceryhomedeliveryoperationmustdealwitharedifferentpreservationtemperaturerequirements,tightorder-to-deliveryleadtimesanddeliverytimewindowsaswellaspotentiallyhugefuturevolumes.Thedecision-makersofthelargestgroceryretailingcompaniesinFinlandsharetheopinionthate-grocerymaytakeoveraround15to20percentoftheFinnishgrocerymarketby2010(Heiskanen,2000;Nurmi,2000).ThesefiguresaresimilartotheestimationsofEuropeanretailers(Powell,2000)inthegroceryindustry.However,thereisnosharedopiniononoperationsmodelofe-groceryorthehomedeliveryserviceconcept(Tinnila¨andJa¨rvela,2000).Thelogisticalservicescreatedfore-groceryhavebeenstartedbymeansoftrialanderror.Forexample,inFinlandthereareapproximately20e-groceryshops,mostofthemoperatingnexttoatraditionalsupermarketwherepickingisbothcostlyandinefficient(Ka¨ma¨ra¨inenetal.2000a).Theactualhomedeliverytransportationisusuallyanadditionalserviceprovidedusingthirdpartyserviceproviders.Thehomedeliveryserviceprovidersareusingseveraldifferentdeliveryconceptsandservicelevelsdefinedbye-grocers.Byservicelevelswemean,forexample,thedeliverytimewindowofferedforthecustomer,i.e.howlongthecustomerhastostayathomewaitingforthedelivery.InFinland,thedeliverytimewindowsforthemannedreceptionvarynormallyfromonetothreehours(Ykko¨shalli,2000;Ruokanet,2000).Inaddition,S-KanavaoffersthehomedeliveryconceptofStreamline,wherethegroceriesaredeliveredtoalockedreceptionboxlocatedinthecustomer’syard(S-Kanava,2000;Streamline,2000;Feare,1999;Webvan,2000;Guglielmo,2000;Himelstein,1999).Sofar,thequantitativeknowledgeofthecoststructuresandefficiencyofthedifferentTheauthorsMikkoPunakiviandJuhaSaranenareResearchersattheHelsinkiUniversityofTechnology,Finland.KeywordsInternet,Shopping,Grocery,Homeshopping,Transportation,ElectroniccommerceAbstractEffortsintheelectronicgroceryshopping,i.e.e-grocerybusiness,focusespeciallyonthephysicaldistributionofthegoods.Forexample,intheUSAthereareseverale-groceryserviceproviderswithvariousoperatingconceptsandofferingvariousservicelevels.ThehomedeliveryconceptofStreamlineisbasedonareceptionboxatthecustomer’sgarageorhomeyardenablingunmannedreception.Incontrast,WebVanhaslaunchedahomedeliveryconceptwherethecustomercanselectaconvenienthalfanhourdeliverytimewindow.Variousserviceconceptshavebeenimplementedandoffered,buthasanyonereallyanalysedthedifferencesincoststructuresofthesetwoandofotherconceptsinbetweenthetwoextremes?Investigatesexistinghomedeliveryserviceconceptsfromdifferentanglesandpresentsconcretesimulationresultsofvariousparametersrepresentingseveralhomedeliveryservicelevels.Eventually,identifyingtheparameterswillgiveguidelinesforthefuturedevelopmentofthee-groceryhomedeliveryservices.ElectronicaccessTheresearchregisterforthisjournalisavailableat://±163#MCBUniversityPress.ISSN0959-0552homedeliveryconceptshavebeenimperfectandinsufficientforthedevelopmentdecisions.Therefore,theobjectiveofthisarticleistoidentifythecoststructuresofhomedeliveryoperationconceptsbymeansofsimulation.PreviouslyKa¨ma¨ra¨inenetal.(2000b)havecomparedtwobasichomedeliveryconceptsinaone-vehicleenvironment.Here,weexpandtheanalysistocovervarioushomedeliveryconceptsandsystemswithupto15vehicles.Westudythedifferencesbetweenmannedandunmannedreceptionandexaminecaseswheretheseserviceconceptsareofferedsimultaneously.Utilisingsimulationtools,thevarioushomedeliveryserviceconceptscanbeimitatedusingpresentgroceryshoppingPOSdata.Thisgivestheopportunitytoestimatethecosts,workingtimeandvehiclesneededinvariousconcepts.Usingthisdatawecancomparethecostlevelswiththecurrent‘‘selfservice’’actionwheretheshoppingtripisdonebythecustomersusingtheirowncarandsparetime.MethodsanddatausedThesimulationresultstobepresentedinthisarticlehavebeendoneusingRoutePro,aroutingsoftwarefromCAPSLogistics.RouteProalgorithmsutilisedigitalmapsoftheselectedareaenablingdifferentroadtypeusage,actualmileage,workingtimeandcostsimulations.Basiccharacteristicsandlimitingvaluesofthevehiclefleetinthesimulationsarethefollowing:max60ordersperroute;max3,000litresperroute(todescribethevolumeofpackingmaterialsetc.,therealvolumeofthevanisnormally6-12m3);workingtimemax11hourspervan;workingtimemaxfivehoursperroute;costsofvananddriver:135FIM(E22.5)perhour(outsourced);loadingtimeperroute:20min;dropofftimepercustomer:2min.ThetestregionusedinthesimulationsisinFinlandandcoverspartsofthecitiesHelsinki,EspooandVant