Online grocery delivery: Sustainable practice, or congestion generator and environmental burden?
Mateo Samudio Lezcano, Corey D. Harper, Destenie Nock, Gregory V. Lowry, Jeremy J. Michalek
Abstract
Grocery delivery services have seen rapid growth in recent years. We develop a method to estimate changes in travel patterns caused by grocery delivery adoption and apply it to a case study in Seattle, WA. Results suggest that delivery can increase or decrease peak hour emissions (−0.9% to + 4.9%) and vehicle hours traveled (−4.2% to + 6.3%), depending most critically on (1) delivery center location, (2) whether deliveries displace dedicated or non-dedicated shopping trips, (3) the degree to which delivery replaces shopping trips or increases demand, (4) the number of deliveries that can be coordinated in a single route, and (5) delivery timing relative to peak travel periods. No scenarios tested where deliveries originate from the store where customers shop achieve emissions or energy use reductions; however, congestion reductions of 3.4% are still possible if the delivery trips are shifted to off-peak hours.