Sustainable Last Mile in e-Commerce: Identifying Innovative Solutions

The interest in last mile, considered the most important factor in e-commerce, has grown as online sales have increased. This interest has been reflected in the literature, which has sought to analyze and quantify new sustainable strategies. However, some of these solutions have only been implemented in specific cases with a limited geographical scope. The purpose of this article is to provide a comprehensive analysis of retailers’ perspectives on sustainability and to identify which sustainable innovations retailers are implementing in their last-mile strategies. To achieve this, an exploratory study based on 15 semi-structured interviews with e-retailers was carried out. As a result, 12 innovative solutions were identified. These include the redesign of vehicle fleets, the design of routes based on demand density or the use of collection points for reverse logistics, among others.