Fast and Determined: Innovative Tech-Enabled Operating Models of E-Commerce Last Mile Logistics in India.

Traditional methods of order fulfillment, namely, hub-and-spoke and milk-run, have served the logistics sector well for many decades. However, with the rise of e-commerce sector and the recent advances in technological systems, customer expectations for speedy and accurate deliveries have risen. Consequently, the logistics companies have realigned their operating systems to create newer models such as relay, drop shipping, aggregation, drone delivery and hyper-local delivery. This paper illustrates the salient features of each model through exemplar case companies in the Indian logistics sector. Cross-case analysis reveals that logistic innovations adopted by the case companies have enabled them to manage increasing customer expectations of ease of delivery, transit time and visibility efficiently and effectively. A crucial finding is that newer operating models are highly tech-oriented and rely heavily on technological tools for seamless order fulfillment. However, the rate of introduction of newer technology has gone up considerably, which leads to lesser time for stabilization of the operating models and also increases operational costs. These models require strong competency of data collation, warehousing and data management. This paper contributes to the development of theoretical knowledge in the logistics and supply chain management domain as this area is relatively under-researched in the Indian context. It also makes a practical contribution as it provides a way forward for other logistics companies that would like to differentiate themselves in a competitive landscape, redrawn incessantly by technology disruption. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]