When a package is shipped, the customer often requires the delivery to be made within a particular time window or by a deadline. However, meeting such time requirements is difficult, and delivery companies may not always know ahead of time which customers will need a delivery. In this thesis, we present models and solution approaches for two stochastic last-mile delivery problems in which customers have delivery time constraints and customer presence is known in advance only according to a probability distribution. Our solutions can help reduce the operational costs of delivery while improving customer service. The first problem is the probabilistic traveling salesman problem with time windows (PTSPTW). In the PTSPTW, customers have both a time window and a probability of needing a delivery on any given day. The objective is to find a pre-planned route with an expected minimum cost. We present computational results that characterize the PTSPTW solutions. We provide insights for practitioners on when solving the PTSPTW is beneficial compared to solving the deterministic analogue of the problem. The second problem is the same-day delivery problem (SDDP). The SDDP is a dynamic and stochastic pick-up and delivery problem. In the SDDP, customers make delivery requests throughout the day and vehicles are dispatched from a warehouse or brick and mortar store to serve the requests. Associated with each request is a request deadline or time window. In order to make better-informed decisions, our solution approach incorporates information about future requests into routing decisions by using a sample scenario planning approach with a consensus function. We also introduce an analytical result that identifies when it is beneficial for vehicles to wait at the depot. We present a wide range of computational experiments that demonstrate the value of our approaches.

Driverless vehicles might fundamentally change the transport system in multiple ways. Reducing driver costs in mobility services could create opportunities for new mobility concepts. Research on driverless vehicles have previously concentrated on urban areas, though driverless vehicles in rural areas could have greater positive effects. Hence, the aim of the study is to see how driverless vehicles can be used in rural areas to contribute to a more sustainable transport system. Three rural mobility concepts for driverless vehicles are developed and by applying these to different case locations, the feasibility of the concepts is discussed. Interviews with local actors in Sweden were conducted to learn about general and local challenges with specific case locations. What rural mobility concept for driverless vehicles to use depends on access to public transport, distance to main roads and spatial density of travel demand. A modelling approach of a first and last mile feeder service is used to evaluate the feasibility of this mobility concept further. Model results show that driverless shuttles can feed travel demands of 100-150 passengers daily and still perform alternative tasks. Even though rural areas have general challenges, local issues also need consideration to optimize the benefits of the services. Public transport authorities are experts on local challenges and could take more responsibility in questions regarding driverless vehicles. For instance, flexibility, accessibility and equality could be improved by merging routes and shorten travel times for entire bus routes. Furthermore, other societal functions can be developed by reinvesting capital in other areas.

Bike Sharing is a sustainable mode of urban mobility, not only for regular commuters but also for casual users and tourists. Free-floating bike sharing (FFBS) is an innovative bike sharing model, which saves on start-up cost, prevents bike theft, and offers significant opportunities for smart management by tracking bikes in real-time with built-in GPS. Efficient management of a FFBS requires: 1) analyzing its mobility patterns and spatio-temporal imbalance of supply and demand of bikes, 2) developing strategies to mitigate such imbalances, and 3) understanding the causes of a bike getting damaged and developing strategies to minimize them. All of these operational management problems are successfully addressed in this dissertation, using tools from Operations Research, Statistical and Machine Learning and using Share-A-Bull Bike FFBS and Divvy station-based bike sharing system as case studies.

E-commerce has been growing in Sweden over the years. It has not only contributed to economy, but also has shaped people’s way of living, especially with the service of home delivery. Consumers enjoy the various choices of products with reasonable prices and the convenience of receiving parcels with a single click on the mouse or by using their phones. Meanwhile, the problem of not-at-home and repeated delivery have caused trouble for both consumers and logistic service providers leading to an increase in delivery cost. Therefore, it takes a lot of cooperation and innovations to come up with solution which will both convenient to customer and 3PL providers, which we call ‘last mile delivery’.This thesis was written with purpose of evaluating the solutions used to address the not at home problem of last mile in e-Commerce. Moreover, the thesis seeks find out which of these solutions are preferred by customers and the impact of these solution on customers. The thesis focuses on the Swedish customers because they have more experience buying online.In this thesis we first established a literature review of E-commerce, E- Shoppers preference of last mile delivery, last mile delivery concept, last mile logistics solution (not at home) which we came up with a theoretical framework by examining the impact of last mile delivery. In order to answer the research questions a focus group discussion and nine interviews were carried out focusing mainly on professional and non professional customers in Sweden. The study identified that apart from home delivery, the customers in Sweden mainly use Collection Points in online shopping. Some other delivery methods such as automated locker banks and controlled home access exist but still in early stage. After analyzing the literature review, current solutions and empirical findings, the study concluded with three potential solutions to solve not at home problem. These solutions are - Secured room at residential building to drop parcel, Automated Locker Bank and Collection Points more closer to residential area.

This paper formally analyzes the role of e-commerce revenue in explaining the changes in industrial rents in the 206 largest Metropolitan Statistical Areas. To analyze this connection, I match commercial real estate data from CoStar, market data from the U.S. Census Bureau, and an estimation of MSA level e-commerce. The results from the generalized least squares model indicate that e-commerce revenue positively affects asking rent and rent growth. This suggests that new fulfillment practices from e-commerce companies are disrupting metropolitan area industrial markets.

Background: E-commerce has experienced tremendous growth in the past few years. At the same time, the Covid-19 pandemic has swept across the world. As a result, many people became enforced to stay more at home because of restrictions and lockdowns, resulting in an even larger increase for the e-commerce industry, and some changes in consumer behavior. In relation to this, the last-mile delivery industry has seen demand shock as a result of the increased volumes within e-commerce. Purpose: The purpose of this paper aims to answer two research questions: How have Swedish e-consumer behaviors and preferences towards delivery services changed due to the Covid-19 pandemic? And how will Swedish e-consumer behaviors and preferences towards delivery services change after the Covid-19 pandemic? Method: With the research questions in mind, an exploratory inductive study was developed using qualitative and quantitative data. As a result, an interview and a survey were developed. The interview provided first-handed insights from the industry to better give an understanding of the challenges of the pandemic and the effect on consumer preferences. The survey on the other hand investigated consumer preferences regarding five different LMD service offerings: home delivery iiwithout signature, home delivery with signature, delivery to service points, delivery to parcel lockers, and pick-up at web shop's physical store. Another aspect of the survey is that the consumer preference is explored before, during, and after the pandemic.  Conclusion: The findings of this study conclude that Covid-19 has significantly impacted peoples' preferences regarding last-mile delivery preferences. As a general conclusion, consumers prefer delivery methods which reduce human contact as well as travel distance. The findings of this study will provide the industry with meaningful insights as well as contributing to the existing knowledge of last-mile delivery.

Denna studie undersöker cykellogistiken och hur fenomenet kan bidra till en mer hållbarcitylogistik. Undersökningen sker genom att dels utforska hur cykellogistiken presenteras somen hållbar lösning inom den tidigare forskningen samt genom att studera hur kommunen samttransport- och logistikföretagen i Malmö förhåller sig till fenomenet. Med hjälp av den tidigareforskningen och olika teorier utreder vi hur aktörskonstellationen i Malmö ser påcykellogistiken samt vilka åtgärder som krävs för att bidra till en förändring för hållbara urbanagodstransporter. Undersökningsmetoden som tillämpas i studien är en kvalitativintervjuundersökning. Studiens resultat visar att kommunen behöver införa restriktioner i formav bland annat tidsbegränsningar och höjda parkeringsavgifter för att kunna bidra till enomställning för urbana godstransporter. Resultatet visar även att det i enlighet med studiensteoretiska utgångspunkt går att observera en förändringsprocess inom citylogistiken och för last mile leveranser där cykellogistik som fenomen börjar tilltala allt fler aktörer inom transportoch logistikbranschen. / This study examines cycle logistics and how the phenomenon can contribute to a moresustainable city logistics. This partly by exploring how cycle logistics is presented as asustainable solution in previous research and by studying how the municipality and transportand logistics companies in Malmo relate to the phenomenon. This study investigates, with thehelp of previous research and different theories, how the actor constellation in Malmo viewscycle logistics and which measures are required to contribute to a sustainable change for urban freight transport. The method used is a qualitative interview survey. The results of this study show that the municipality needs to introduce restrictions in the form of for instance timeconstraints and increased parking fees to be able to contribute to a sustainable change for urban freight transport. The results also show that a change in accordance with the study’s theoretical starting point can be observed in accordance to last mile deliveries for city logistics where cycle logistics as a phenomenon is starting to appeal to more and more actors in the transport and logistics industry.

Syftet med examensarbetet är att utforma en distributionscentrals processer för identifiering, sortering och packning av gods, för att möjliggöra en hållbar last mile-distribution med cykel. Varulogistik i städer är en stor utmaning för att främja en hållbar stadsutveckling. Transporter är nödvändiga för att förse verksamheter och invånare med gods. Samtidigt bidrar dessa transporter till negativa miljöpåverkningar, i form av buller och utsläpp. Kommuner har en central roll i att främja en hållbar utveckling på grund av deras planmonopol och möjligheter att reglera trafiken. Ett sätt att minska tyngre trafik i innerstäder är genom införandet av mindre, energieffektiva distributionsfordon för last mile-leveranser av lättare paket. Studien bygger på en mix av kvalitativa och kvantitativa metoder. Intervjuer med experter inom området, samt studiebesök hos framgångsrika transportföretag har gett en bred kunskap i området. Tillgång till data inom nuvarande processer har dessutom hjälpt forma de två lösningsförslag som slutligen presenteras i studien. Resultatet av studien framkommer i två lösningsförslag, ett nutidsförslag och ett framtidsförslag. Nutidsförslaget innehåller förändringar i såväl nuvarande processer som införandet av nya. Förslagen som presenteras här är mindre resurskrävande att implementera och ses därför vara möjliga att genomföra i dag. Framtidsförslaget presenterar vidare förbättringar som kan tillämpas inom terminalens processer. Dessa förslag är mer resurskrävande. Trots att studien är utförd efter specifika önskemål från uppdragsgivaren täcker den relevanta områden som är av intresse för alla företag som vill implementera en last mile-lösning med hjälp av cykelfordon.

Over two decades, digitalization has grown considerably and gained momentum around the world. The majority of the world's population uses digital services such as Internet, smartphones and computers. The growth has changed the market, which has led to increased delivery of packages to customers or to wholesalers. Last mile Logistics has had a major impact in digitalization as the purpose is how efficiently packages are delivered to the customer.The purpose of this study was to understand the applications of digitalization on last mile logistics through e-commerce in different industries.For the purpose of the study, data collection of scientific articles and interviews was accomplished. The study consists of five interviews with five different case companies that works with digitalization focusing on the last mile logistics.These interviews highlighted how dependent companies are currently out of digitization in last mile logistics, it was also emphasized how large investments companies make regarding jobs with constant improvements in order to meet customers' needs.In the study's conclusions, it was possible to understand how different businesses implement digitization in different ways, and how these different companies apply digitization on their last mile logistics through e-commerce.

Europeiska unionens e-handelsrapport från 2019 beskriver en fortsatt ökning av e-handel, samt att en stor andel av den svenska befolkningen handlar via nätet. E-handel möjliggör gränslös handel mellan berörda verksamheter och konsumenter. Begreppet ”last mile”, sista milen, är ett logistiskt moment inom försörjningskedjor där gods transporteras den sista sträckan i distributionen innan den når slutkunden. Till skillnad från traditionella godstransporter i större partier, har e-handelns transporter av enskilda paket fragmenterat både laster och distributionsnätverk. Med ökad e-handel har last mile uppmärksammats som ett problem. I glesbefolkade områden förstärks last mile problematiken med fragmenterade transporter i och med färre leveranspunkter samt lägre kunddensitet. Syftet med föreliggande studie är att undersöka hur distributionen av paket kommer att utvecklas i Sveriges glesbebyggda områden. Studien använde en kvalitativ metod med induktivt genomförande. Den kvalitativa metoden som användes för att samla in primärdata var semistrukturerade intervjuer. Då rapporten ska belysa aktörer i B2C last-mile leveranser, genomfördes intervjuer med yrkesverksamma inom logistikbranschen samt akademiker verksamma inom logistik. Studien visade att glesbefolkade områden har otillräckliga paketvolymer för att distributörer ska kunna utföra mer effektiv last mile distribution. Därmed kan servicegraden i glesbygder inte likställas med den som i större städer och tätorter, vilket heller inte förväntas av glesbydsmottagare. Studien visade även att last mile distributionen inom glesbygder har utrymme för inkrementell utveckling. Det berör effektivisering av befintliga distributionsmöjligheter, istället för innovativa lösningar. Paketautomater är ett av de koncept som kan innebära en potentiell förbättring av servicegraden, givet att den infrastruktur av paketautomater ska verka i ett öppet system, och inte är bundna till varken enskilda distributörer eller butiker. Invånarna i glesbygdskommuner kan även ta sitt eget initiativ för att förenkla upphämtningen av paket för varandra genom olika lokala samordningar, för att göra sig mer oberoende av aktörers bristande närvaro. En möjlighet för distributörer som är verksamma med last mile inom glesbygder för att uppnå bättre transporteffektivitet i viss omfattning är konsolidering och samverkan i högre grad. Däremot är potentialen inte tillräckligt stor att på egen hand förbättra servicegraden i glesbygder och beredskapen bland distributörer är för låg att göra detta. / The European Union's e-commerce report from 2019 shows a continued increase in ecommerce, and that a large proportion of the Swedish population shop online. E-commerce enables borderless commerce between the businesses concerned and consumers. The term ”last mile” is a logistical stage in supply chains where goods are transported in the final leg in of the distribution chain before it reaches the end customer. Unlike traditional freight transports in large quantities, e-commerce transport of individual parcels has fragmented both cargo and distribution networks. With increased e-commerce, the last mile has been highlighted as a problem. In rural areas, the last mile problem is amplified with fragmented transports due to fewer delivery points and lower customer density. The purpose of this study is to investigate how the distribution of parcels will develop in Sweden's rural areas.     The study used a qualitative method with inductive reasoning. The qualitative method used to collect primary data was semi-structured interviews. As the report will primarily emphasize actors in B2C last-mile deliveries, interviews were conducted with professionals from the logistics industry and academics.     The study showed that rural areas have insufficient parcel volumes for distributors to execute efficient last-mile deliveries. Thus, the level of service in rural areas can not be equated with that in larger cities and urban areas, which is also not expected of its inhabitants. The study also showed that last-mile deliveries in rural areas have room for incremental improvements. It concerns increased efficiency of existing distribution opportunities, instead of innovative solutions. A Parcel locker is one of the concepts that can mean a potential improvement in the level of service, given that the infrastructure of the lockers must operate in an open system, and not be bound to either singular distributors or stores. The inhabitants of rural municipalities can also take the initiative to enable easier parcel pick-ups for each other through various local cooperations, to make themselves more independent due to the lack of presence of distributors. One opportunity to achieve better efficiency of transports to a certain extent for distributors who operate with last-mile deliveries in rural areas is consolidation and collaboration to a greater degree. However, the potential is not large enough to single-handedly improve the level of service in rural areas and the willingness among distributors is too low to do so.