A Study On Urban End Joint Distribution Network Under E-commerce Environment

In the recent years, with the development of information technology,the E-commerce market and online shopping market have expandedrapidly, which has given birth to the urban end distribution problems. Theproblems are particularly prominent in Beijing, Shanghai, Shenzhen andother big cities in China. Under the E-commerce development, traditionaldistribution methods have increasingly exposed its inefficiency, waste ofresources, low satisfaction, negative externalities, and many othershortcomings, which not only hindering the development of urban logistics,but also restricting the future development of e-commerce. However, howto solve this problem has not yet been paid enough attention to. Therefore,to study how to improve the urban end distribution network is verynecessary.The research comes from the2012-2013year project “Policies toPromote the Development of Shanghai Circulation Industry under the NewSituation” of Shanghai Development and Reform Commission. On thebasis of investigation and paper research, this paper concludes threecurrent innovative patterns of urban end joint distribution, namely, the“chain store” pattern, the “end-joint-distribution station” pattern and the“pick-up locker” pattern. After a comparison of the advantages andshortcomings of the three patterns, this paper brings up a creative conceptof the “urban end-joint-distribution network design” and gives suggestionsfor the development of urban end joint distribution from six aspects,including capital gathering, rights and responsibilities, overall planning,industry guidance, technical support and public propaganda. The key ofdeveloping the urban end joint distribution network is the location problem of the end joint distribution network. The outlet of end joint distributionnetwork is influenced by the city’s micro logistics plan, the cost-effectiveconsideration of logistics enterprises, the choice of distribution models ofcustomers and their satisfaction of the service. Based on actual situation,this paper has proposed two methods in urban end distribution networkdesign:(1) To build a multi-objective model by genetic algorithmsconsidering both the efficiency of door-to-door delivery and theconvenience of “self-get” and to simplify the model by weighting methodand solve it by genetic algorithm;(2) To build an evaluation index systembased on fuzzy analytic hierarchy process combining triangular fuzzynumbers and to choose the best one among the alternatives. Then anumerical example of Shanghai Xujiahui central area is presented toillustrate the feasibility of both the two methods. On the basis of thecomparison between the courses, effects, advantages and limitations of thetwo methods, this paper proposes that the combination of these twomethods is applicable to more complex end distribution network designproblems.This paper brings up a feasible idea of how to solve the “last mile”problem. It tries to optimize urban end distribution network to promote thedevelopment of innovative development of e-commerce. This paper notonly has practical significance in promoting the integration of urban enddistribution resources and the efficiency and satisfactory of the end jointdistribution service, but also to some extent, complements and enriches thetheoretical research of urban logistics network.