Article: Exploring horizontal collaboration in home delivery operations: a case of Greek grocery retailers Journal: International Journal of Logistics Systems and Management (IJLSM) 2025 Vol.51 No.4 pp.576 - 598 Abstract: The emergence of online retail channels has reshaped the grocery market rendering home delivery a costly and barely sustainable process. Most grocery retailers fulfil home delivery with proprietary fleets. However, the associated expenses led many retailers to rethink their business model and consider synergies with competitors to implement a sustainable home delivery model. To that end, we propose a horizontal collaborative home delivery model as an operational alternative to reduce distribution costs and improve logistics efficiency. The proposed model is assessed in cooperation with two major Greek grocery retailers. Different operating scenarios using actual home delivery data are tested to evaluate the impact of collaboration and explore if better services, such as shorter time windows, are possible through collaboration. Our results indicate that, on average horizontal collaborative home delivery decreases the number of required routes and travelling time by 5.3% and 10.6%, respectively. Inderscience Publishers - linking academia, business and industry through research

Title: Exploring horizontal collaboration in home delivery operations: a case of Greek grocery retailers

Authors: Eleni Zampou; Eleftherios Manousakis; Maria Argyropoulou; Dimitris Zissis

Addresses: ELTRUN Research Center, Department of Management Science and Technology, Athens University of Economics and Business, 76 Patission Str., Athens 10434, Greece ' Department of Management Science and Technology, Athens University of Economics and Business, 10434 Athens, Greece ' Department of Management Science and Technology, Athens University of Economics and Business, 10434 Athens, Greece ' Norwich Business School, University of East Anglia, Norwich NR4 7TJ, UK

Abstract: The emergence of online retail channels has reshaped the grocery market rendering home delivery a costly and barely sustainable process. Most grocery retailers fulfil home delivery with proprietary fleets. However, the associated expenses led many retailers to rethink their business model and consider synergies with competitors to implement a sustainable home delivery model. To that end, we propose a horizontal collaborative home delivery model as an operational alternative to reduce distribution costs and improve logistics efficiency. The proposed model is assessed in cooperation with two major Greek grocery retailers. Different operating scenarios using actual home delivery data are tested to evaluate the impact of collaboration and explore if better services, such as shorter time windows, are possible through collaboration. Our results indicate that, on average horizontal collaborative home delivery decreases the number of required routes and travelling time by 5.3% and 10.6%, respectively.

Keywords: online grocery; last-mile; home delivery; horizontal collaboration.

DOI: 10.1504/IJLSM.2025.148073

International Journal of Logistics Systems and Management, 2025 Vol.51 No.4, pp.576 - 598

Received: 18 Nov 2022
Accepted: 25 Dec 2022
Published online: 25 Aug 2025 *

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Title: Exploring horizontal collaboration in home delivery operations: a case of Greek grocery retailers

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