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Insight report

Sustainability

in the last-mile delivery of groceries

On the example of Grand Paris

A study on how to make it good for the planet, the cities, the people and the market players.

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About

Big cities are facing serious problems caused by changes in consumer habits and booming e-commerce. The scale of delivery is increasing to numbers never seen before, causing air pollution, higher greenhouse gas emissions and congestion.

While demand for online sales could grow without limits, our planet and the current infrastructure cannot handle the increased volumes.

What are the available solutions? How can we shape the future of e-grocery so it will be:

  • good for the planet and for the cities,
  • convenient and affordable for the people
  • and profitable for the market players?

The report “Sustainability in the last-mile delivery of groceries” by Jérôme Libeskind, Olivier Dauvers, Stephane Legatelois and Marek Piotrowski, with comments by retail, e-commerce and logistics experts, will try to answer those questions.

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Discover

Urban delivery is essential for the functioning of a major city. If the flows of goods are multiple, those concerning consumer products constitute the most visible part. However, the growing awareness of the environmental impacts of deliveries requires new solutions for consolidating flows and better modes of transport.

In addition, the rapid evolution of purchase patterns in large cities, in connection with a decreasing number of people who own a car, requires better organization of deliveries of consumer products.

Jérôme Libeskind

Expert in urban logistics and head of Logicités – a consultancy which specializes in urban and last-mile logistics

Each era has its own success story. Each era has its own commercial revolution and… its driving force. For a long time, costs and price were the sole compasses of traders. And rightly so, since such was the social expectation. From now on, externalities are more integrated. And that’s a good thing in view of the challenges, especially environmental ones (climate, quality of life in the city, etc.).

It is in this sense that this report can (or must?) feed the reflection of the “last-mile” actors in terms of urban commerce. Whether they are brands, logisticians or, of course, public authorities.

Olivier Dauvers

Publisher and chief editor of Grande Conso, retail expert

Universal network of multi-brand hubs is the ultimate solution for the problem of increased demand for delivery. Drones, autonomous cars and delivery robots are great for some specific purposes, but they are not a mass solution that will save us. It’s great for rural, low-inhabited areas but not for the cities. Electric, autonomous vehicles are great for lowering costs and CO2 emissions, but what about congestion and our goal to reduce the space for cars?

Delipop can help big cities build the bridge between traditional commerce and its sustainable future in a time of booming e-commerce.

Marek Piotrowski

Chief Marketing & Experience Officer at Delipop and Retail Robotics
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Play Video

Key insights

15x fewer kilometers driven = fewer cars, no blocked streets, no double parking
The Delipop network considerably improves the last mile, which is most problematic in inner-city areas. Merging volumes and massification is efficient in terms of emissions, road occupancy of delivery vehicles and number of vehicles. In this sense, Delipop provides an answer for all inner-cities problems with urban congestion.
Delipop network will save more CO2 emissions than are absorbed by all 500,000 trees in Paris
Approximately 500,000 trees are growing in Paris now and the city plans to plant 170,000 more to make it breathe better.
As far as CO2 emissions are concerned, the Delipop Network of 350 pick-up points in Paris can generate “savings” of 536,000 trees. That is only in comparison to home delivery.
In comparison to hypermarket shopping – the “savings” are even 3x bigger and comparable to a forest of over 1.8 mln trees!
Eco impact: 91% less greenhouse emissions in the last mile and 77% less per order
The Delipop automated pick-up points model provides reduction of environmental impact. Even 91% less greenhouse emissions in the last mile!
According to the calculation, the Delipop model reduces the greenhouse gas emissions per order by 77% compared to the home delivery service and 92% compared to the hypermarket purchases. It also reduces the traveled kilometers per order by 92.5% compared to the home delivery service and 98.5% compared to the hypermarket purchases.
Social impact: great consumer experience and very high general satisfaction
The satisfaction level of service stated by Delipop's users was very high - 4,45/5, examined at the end of the process at the machine from the opening to 28.03.2022. Also 38% of users placed their orders 3 times or more. According to the research, what attracts the most consumers is: proximity to their homes, free delivery, great customer experience, price advantage and wide range of products.
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Hub effect

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Growing demand for e-commerce delivery will result in 36% more delivery vehicles in inner cities by 2030.

While demand for online sales could grow without limits, our planet and the current infrastructure cannot handle the increased volumes. We need to start a public debate on sustainability in the last mile delivery. Consequently, we urgently need to find and deploy sustainable options. The purpose of this report is to start a discussion and eventually to help create positive, enduring change in the world.

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Future infrastructure – how to make last mile sustainable?

The Delipop model is based on the consolidation of upstream logistics flows in order to allow retailers to reduce costs of transport and commercial area. Automation helps to reduce operating costs, which are the main obstacle to a sustainable business model of pedestrian drives.
 
The consolidation of flows by grouping the flows of several brands and a walk-in pick-up point avoids individual deliveries. Therefore, there are fewer vehicles in the city and a local service for the inhabitants is available.

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5 pillars
for sustainable delivery
infrastructure
1

Ecological

less CO2 emissions,
less pollution, less traffic

2

Local

open for everyone,
accessible and affordable

3

Urban

respecting traditional commerce
and architecture, open to all market players

4

Futuristic

deploying smart, robotic solutions
supporting city evolution

5

Efficient

multi brand networks
based on the hub effect

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Experts

JÉRÔME LIBESKIND

An expert in urban logistics, last-mile delivery, real estate logistics, implementation of multimodal and urban logistics platforms, urban distribution of goods and logistics services in e-commerce. He is the head of Logicités – a consultancy which specializes in urban and lastmile logistics. He supports many public and private players, in particular local authorities, in understanding the challenges of urban logistics, analyzing solutions and their operational implementation. Jérôme Libeskind is an author of several books on urban logistics: "La logistique urbaine – les nouveaux modes de consommation et de livraison" (Editions FYP – March 2015), "La logistique urbaine au Japon" (September 2018) and "Si la logistique m’était contée” (Editions FYP – April 2021). He is a lecturer in urban logistics and e-commerce at the Ecole Supérieure des Transports and at the Master TLTE Paris Sorbonne and conducts numerous conferences on this subject.

Olivier Dauvers

An agricultural engineer by education, Olivier Dauvers, has been following distribution for 31 years. After having been an editor-in-chief of Lineaires (1994–2001) and Rayon Boissons (1993–1996) he has been a publisher specializing in retail and mass consumption since 2002. A leading player in info-retail, he stands out for its unique multimedia approach: monitoring (Vigie Grande Conso, Les Essentiels, Consoscopie, etc.), books (Penser-Client, Image-Prix, etc.), studies (Distri Prix, Promoflash, Drive Insights), videos (Vidéo Grande Conso), podcasts (Les Voices De La Conso, Café Conso) and, of course, the olivierdauvers.fr blog, as well as Twitter and LinkedIn feeds. As such, he has created a community of more than 80,000 subscribers.

Stephane Legatelois

He is CEO of Delipop France, responsible for the growth of the network and cooperation with retailers. An expert in logistics and e-commerce operations. Before joining Delipop, he was Director of Logistics Operations for Rakuten in Europe and Director of Operations and Supply E-commerce for Carrefour in France. Throughout his career, he has been very involved in the search for ecological and sustainable solutions in last-mile logistics. He was one of the founders of the company The Green Link, which was one of the first actors of urban delivery by cargo bike and also one of the founders of Urbantz, which offers a solution for optimizing delivery routes.

Marek Piotrowski

An expert in marketing and user experience (UX). As Chief Marketing & Experience Officer at Delipop, he was responsible for the launch of the network in France. When Delipop was created he joined the team to build a strong brand in retail delivery with very deep engagement in sustainability issues, and great customer care. Since 2019, he has been a partner and CMO at Retail Robotics, the world leading producer of parcel lockers solutions. His goal was to create and develop a remarkable brand of game-changing solutions with great usability, design and positive influence on the environment. Prior to his career in tech, Marek was the CEO of interactive and advertising agencies for 20 years, working globally for top brands like Nike, Orange, Sony, P&G, Samsung and GE. He is an advocate of new tech, longevity, growth mindset and great design.

We will be happy to receive your comments and questions

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