Purpose The value of last-mile delivery is no longer confined to functional performance but increasingly involves consumers' experiences. Despite growing recognition of experiential value, research in this area remains fragmented and underdeveloped. Thus, this study aims to develop a value-based conceptualisation of experiential consumer logistics (ECL) through a synthesised literature review. Design/methodology/approach A two-study literature review design was employed. Study 1 synthesises the logistics literature to conceptualise the value configurations and experiential mechanisms underlying ECL. Building on this conceptualisation, Study 2 integrates insights from the service design literature to examine how experiential value can be systematically reinforced. Findings Study 1 conceptualises ECL based on two analytical dimensions, value proposition (high-touch vs high-tech) and value appreciation (individualised vs networked), leading to four principal value configurations labelled as: traditional, technology-based, ethical and platform-enabled logistics. Furthermore, Study 2 identifies two complementary service design approaches for reinforcing experiential value: accommodating (relationship building and design for invisibility) and empowering (design for visibility and community building), each aligned with distinct configurations of ECL. Originality/value By consolidating dispersed literature, this review proposes an initial conceptualisation of ECL that explains how experiential value is proposed, appreciated and reinforced through service design. The findings provide an integrated theoretical foundation for understanding experiential mechanisms in last-mile logistics, offer practical guidance for designing logistics services and identify directions for future research.
Purpose Supply chains continue to be disrupted, leading to product scarcity. Consumers facing a product shortage often respond by stockpiling scarce products, which has implications across supply chain tiers (e.g. unavailability of goods, inflated prices). Thus, this research explores consumer stockpiling behavior of fresh meat items during and following a supply chain disruption to understand stockpiling of a category of perishable items. Design/methodology/approach We study this topic in the context of an exogenous shock whereby fresh meat production in the United States (U.S.) was curtailed due to COVID-19 outbreaks in meat packing plants from late April to early June 2020. We utilize data from NielsenIQ's Consumer Panel Dataset, the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the U.S. Department of Agriculture, and the U.S. Census Bureau to employ a difference-in-differences design. Findings Consumers displayed behavior consistent with stockpiling of fresh meat products facing scarcity; this effect continued as the threat of the shortage was subsiding. Further, rural households displayed behavior consistent with stockpiling to a greater degree than urban households. Originality/value Literature surrounding stockpiling during disruptions mostly focuses on nonperishable products. Given the nature of perishable products, consumers may exhibit different stockpiling behavior. Thus, we expand this literature by exploring stockpiling of a type of perishable product: fresh meat. We further inform practice by focusing on the behavioral differences between urban versus rural consumers.
Purpose-Most procurement research assumes that buyers possess negotiation power and viable alternatives. However, such assumptions do not hold in practice, as buyers in many industries operate under unmitigable supplier dominance. Against this backdrop, we examine how weaker buyers configure procurement strategies to secure supplies under unmitigable supplier dominance. Design/methodology/approach-We conduct a multiple case study of 11 small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in the Spanish agri-food sector, a setting characterized by high supply concentration and limited buyer leverage. These SMEs occupy the middle of the supply chains, positioned between powerful upstream and downstream agents. Findings-We find that established procurement strategies can become infeasible, heavily constrained, or even counterproductive under supplier dominance. Their feasibility is bounded by two contingencies: the urgency and substitutability of supplies. Practical implications-The findings provide managers with a feasibility-based decision logic for selecting procurement strategies under supplier dominance. Social implications-This study highlights how concentration in supply markets creates systemic vulnerability in supply security, underscoring the need for regulatory frameworks that facilitate adaptive sourcing during crises. Originality/value-This study develops a constraint-based view of procurement, demonstrating that under unmitigable supplier dominance, strategy feasibility precedes strategy selection.
Purpose This study investigates the impact of pick location height switching on task performance time in manual order picking systems. Drawing on task switching theory, we examine whether switching between ground- and chest-level pick locations increases task performance time, whether switching costs are asymmetric, and whether item weight strengthens possible differences between ground-to-chest and chest-to-ground switches. Design/methodology/approach We adopt a two-stage approach that combines internal validity and operational generalizability. First, a controlled eye-tracking experiment simulates a simplified order picking scenario to explore the cognitive mechanisms underlying visual search when repeating versus switching pick location heights. Second, we analyze 3,537,973 pick location visits from a German grocery retail warehouse to test the effects of pick location height switching in a real-world operational environment with professional order pickers. Findings The eye-tracking experiment provides mechanism-oriented evidence that switching between pick location heights increases visual search time and reorientation demands under controlled conditions. The archival field study complements these behavioral insights by showing that height switching is associated with longer task performance time. It further shows that switching costs depend on direction, with ground-to-chest switches being more time-consuming than chest-to ground switches. This directional difference becomes more pronounced as item weight increases. Practical implications The findings suggest that warehouse managers should consider not only the frequency but also the direction of height switches when designing picking sequences. Batching and routing algorithms could incorporate switching costs as a weighted parameter, with particular attention to ground-to-chest switches involving heavier items. However, reducing height switches should be balanced against ergonomic risks, as long sequences of ground-level picks may increase repetitive bending and musculoskeletal strain. Originality/value This study provides the first empirical evidence on pick location height switching in warehouse operations and extends task switching theory to a new operational context. By combining mechanism-oriented eye-tracking evidence with large-scale field data, we show that height switching is associated with asymmetric switching costs and provide insights into the cognitive and motor reorientation processes that may underlie these effects.
Purpose This research examines how firms in competitive and technologically uncertain markets use formal contracts and centralized control to manage supply disruptions, and how these mechanisms enhance firms' ability to respond swiftly in the immediate aftermath of a disruption. Design/methodology/approach We develop a conceptual framework anchored in transaction cost economics (TCE) to examine how competitive intensity and technological uncertainty influence the transaction mechanisms firms use to enable expeditious responses to supply disruptions. The study combines primary survey and secondary archival data from 171 firms. The hypotheses are tested using partial least squares structural equation modeling. Findings Competitive intensity and technological uncertainty shape firms' use of formal transaction mechanisms in distinct ways. Firms under high competitive intensity rely more heavily on formal contracts, while competitive intensity does not significantly increase reliance on centralized control. Technological uncertainty strengthens firms' use of centralized control and is also positively associated with formal contracts. Both mechanisms are positively associated with expeditious supply disruption response. However, formal contracts exhibit diminishing returns, indicating that excessive contractualization may constrain rapid adaptation as disruptions evolve. Originality/value This study contributes to the supply disruption literature by shifting attention from preparedness and resilience outcomes to the expeditiousness of response. Applying TCE to a disruption context, it shows that formal transaction mechanisms shape not only ex ante alignment but also execution speed once disruptions occur. Their executional effects are asymmetric and context-dependent, with contractual safeguards exhibiting diminishing returns and centralized control becoming especially valuable under high technological uncertainty. The study clarifies how firms should align governance arrangements with context-specific execution demands.
