Mobile application supported urban-township e-grocery distribution
International Journal of Physical Distribution & Logistics Management
ISSN: 0960-0035
Article publication date: 25 November 2019
Issue publication date: 14 January 2020
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to present a mobile application supported townshipand urban e-grocery distribution models that uses a software application (app) to bridge the infrastructural barriers, costs and complexities associated with e-grocery delivery operations in rural township areas.
Design/methodology/approach
Using a qualitative multi-case approach and semi-structured interviews, the study explored distribution practices of eight national emerging e-grocery retail businesses to demonstrate how mobile applications can facilitate South African urban and township e-grocery delivery models.
Findings
The study reveals how the need to scale the use of new mobile application innovations fuels value-added services that power new e-grocery distribution models. Of interest is how the application aggregates demand rapidly, respond to demand within a short lead time and how e-grocers use competitors’ stores as their fulfilment centres. The use of apps reveals a slow transformation of society towards an inclusive model that integrates different types of workers in an informal context.
Practical implications
The mobile application value-added service business model offers a new wave of scaling e-grocery retail to rural and township areas constrained by technological, economic and road infrastructure. The apps transcend e-grocery barriers and enables small businesses with limited resources to leverage e-grocery market opportunities that are unimaginable in townships and rural areas.
Originality/value
The innovative mobile platform-base model offers emerging contextual insight of a pull e-grocery distribution model that demonstrates the supply chain innovations for addressing under-resource and under-developed logistics infrastructure.
Keywords
Citation
Mkansi, M., de Leeuw, S. and Amosun, O. (2020), "Mobile application supported urban-township e-grocery distribution", International Journal of Physical Distribution & Logistics Management, Vol. 50 No. 1, pp. 26-53. https://doi.org/10.1108/IJPDLM-10-2018-0358
Publisher
:Emerald Publishing Limited
Copyright © 2019, Emerald Publishing Limited