Last Mile Delivery as a Competitive Logistics Service – A Case Study

Last mile delivery logistics (LMD) has become one of the key competitive services of online retailers. LMD is defined as the last stretch of the delivery process to end consumers, playing a critical role in ensuring customer experience. Effective LMD does not only affect customer experience but also make a significant impact in terms of reduced transport cost, fuel emission and increased resource utilization. At the same time, it is also facing challenges including rising fuel prices, failed deliveries and parking issues. This paper describes a review of how DHL eCommerce (Vietnam) employed LMD in its supply chain strategy to provide competitive logistics service for the local online retailers. Initial findings indicate that the current DHL e-Commerce’s LMD operation model and service offerings provide delivery tracking, high occurrence cash remittance for sellers, and dense service points network as their competitive offerings.