Scenario analysis of online food supply chains

Anne Beckmann

A chapter in Adapting to the Future: How Digitalization Shapes Sustainable Logistics and Resilient Supply Chain Management, 2021, pp 585-609 from Hamburg University of Technology (TUHH), Institute of Business Logistics and General Management

Abstract: Purpose: For a long time, online food retail, especially in Germany, lagged strongly behind other e-commerce industries. The COVID-19 pandemic gave this market an unforeseen boost in demand. Nevertheless, numerous problems still exist in the industry, such as lack of profitability, staff shortages, and product returns. Identifying possible future developments can help to design meaningful strategies for the fulfillment within online food supply chains. Methodology: The scenarios are built using Porter's Five Forces in combination with a STEPE analysis examining socio-cultural, technological, economic, political, and ecological factors. The findings are validated and ranked by four interviews with experts working in the online food retail industry. Findings: The literature research and the assessment of the experts show that above all socio-cultural (e.g., customers' price sensitivity) and technological factors (e.g., warehouse automation) will be decisive for the future development of the industry. These are combined to form three scenarios (best-case, worst-case, focus on shelf-stable food). Implications for online food retailers are given for each scenario. Originality: This paper applies methods of trend and future research to the areas of online food retail and logistics and supply chain management research. In this area only little original scientific research exists.

Keywords: innovation management; technology management (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.econstor.eu/bitstream/10419/249630/1/hicl-2021-31-585.pdf (application/pdf)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:zbw:hiclch:249630

DOI: 10.15480/882.3956

Access Statistics for this chapter

More chapters in Chapters from the Proceedings of the Hamburg International Conference of Logistics (HICL) from Hamburg University of Technology (TUHH), Institute of Business Logistics and General Management
Bibliographic data for series maintained by ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics ().