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Economic and Environmental Implications of Online Retailing and Centralized Stock Keeping in the United States. H. Scott Matthews and Chris Hendrickson Green Design Carnegie Mellon University. Growth of Retail E-commerce ($).
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Economic and Environmental Implications of Online Retailing and Centralized Stock Keeping in the United States H. Scott Matthews and Chris Hendrickson Green Design Carnegie Mellon University
Growth of Retail E-commerce ($) • US DOC began measuring and reporting retail e-commerce in March 2000 • 4Q 02 = $14.3 Billion • 1.6% of all retail purchases [$46B for 2002] • Uses same sampling as traditional surveys • 12,000 out of 2 million firms (dangerous now?) • Note the following are not considered retail (and thus also not counted in e-commerce $) • Travel, financial, ticket brokering
Traditional Retail Logistics System • Factory to warehouse to warehouse to retailer. • Last leg of trip by private vehicle
Single Facility Sales • LL Bean, Lands End - catalogue sales • Amazon (original), MusicOutpost - web based sales from a single facility
www.eiolca.net • Free life cycle assessment software on the web from Carnegie Mellon - public data • >20,000 uses this year • economic, environment and resource requirements for purchases from any sector • just added injury and fatality data • based on linear model of economy and 500 sectors!
EIO-LCA Implementation • Use the 480*480 commodity input-output matrix of the U.S. economy (1997) • Augment with sector-level environmental impact coefficient matrices (R) (average impact per dollar of output) • Linear environmental impact calculation: E = R[I - D]-1F
Book Publishing Case Study • Traditional System: • logistics: printer > warehouse > warehouse > retailer > home, all by truck/car • unsold returns - roughly 35% for bestsellers • E-commerce System: • logistics: printer > warehouse > distribution center >home, by air and truck. • No unsold returns
Traditional: truck transport (1000 mi) warehousing production of returns reverse travel of returns private automobile transport E-Commerce air transport (500 mi) truck transport (500 mi) warehousing Comparative Analysis
Why are E-Commerce Costs Lower? • Higher transportation costs for e-commerce, but: • Returns of unsold copies • Lower retail transactions costs • Lower (private) automobile cost • Result is cost advantage for e-Commerce
Sensitivity Analysis • ‘Traditional’ becomes better if: • Local distance to bookstore < 3 miles • Air transport of books > 700 miles • Orders not shipped together
Harry Potter Case • 250,000 books shipped on release date by Amazon.com • 9,000 trucks and 100 airplanes • 2.5 lb. book, 0.7 lb. packaging (3.2 lbs.) • Bookstores got 10 per box • Shopping trips for books avg. 11 miles • Marginal effects
Example 2: Centralized or Virtual Warehouse • Traditional: Stock at Local Warehouse with Rapid Delivery but High Stock Costs • Centralized or Virtual: Stock at Remote Warehouse with Rapid Delivery by Higher Cost Mode. (Note E-commerce Model: Delivery Mode Choices).
Example: Defense Logistics Agency • Military spare parts management: 632,000 part types, inventory of 108 million parts, value of $ 83 B, 286 storage locations. • GAO – Consolidate spare parts inventory in major sites. • GAO – also, reduce excess inventory (not analyzed here)
Some Analysis Issues • What are E-commerce future scenarios? • What will happen with local manufacturing technology? • What will be impact of new business models for controlling inventory (warehousing), manufacturing and shipping. • What is appropriate time scale of analysis?
Analysis Boundary Issues (cont.) • Buildings - decrease in retail or warehouse space? • Shopping - will individuals substitute other travel for reduced shopping travel? • Computers - what fraction of personal computer burdens should be allocated to E-commerce?
Will E-commerce Improve or Degrade the Environment? • Net Effect - hypothesis: depends upon product and processes and upon the analysis boundary. • Appropriate Public Policy - • Don’t ignore service industries in environmental policy. • Consider life cycle costs including social costs. • Take advantage of cost savings to create environmental benefits
Acknowledgments • AT&T Foundation’s Industrial Ecology Faculty Fellowship Program • Organization of Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) • Japan Foundation Center for Global Partnership
References • "Environmental and Economic Effects of E-Commerce: A Case Study of Book Publishing and Retail Logistics," Hendrickson, Chris T., H. Scott Matthews, and Denise L. Soh, Transportation Research Record 1763, pp. 6-12, 2001. • "Harry Potter and the Health of the Environment," Matthews, H. Scott, Chris Hendrickson and Lester Lave, Spectrum, 20-22, November 2000. • The Economic and Environmental Implications of Warehousing Strategies in the New Economy, Matthews, H. Scott and Chris Hendrickson, J. of Industrial Ecology, 2002.