IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/sae/envira/v35y2003i7p1173-1200.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

(Re)Solving Space and Time: Fulfilment Issues in Online Grocery Retailing

Author

Listed:
  • Andrew J Murphy

    (School of Geography, Earth and Environmental Sciences, University of Birmingham, Edgbaston, Birmingham B15 2TT, England; and Department of Geography, University of British Columbia, 1984 West Mall, Vancouver, BC V6T 1Z2, Canada)

Abstract

There has been much hype and speculation in the media and in academe on the vitality and future of the ‘Internet economy’. In this paper the author uses case studies from Britain, Canada, New Zealand and the United States to assess the strengths and weaknesses of online grocery retailers, from national chain stores pursuing a ‘bricks and clicks' strategy to ‘pure-play’ startups. He argues that delivering groceries via the Internet to customer doorsteps requires ways of solving space and time that are markedly different from previous trends in food retail logistics. He holds that solving problems of space management creates problems in the management of time and vice versa. In particular, ‘e-tailers’ struggle with fulfilment costs and logistics, and have attempted to manage customers' time and locations to reduce these costs. Store-based operations may be best suited for short-term profitability (or loss minimisation), whereas warehouse-based fulfilment may hold future promise of greater efficiency and flexibility. The author suggests that online organic home delivery may be the most successful type of online food retailer, for its size, given greater customer commitment and problems with store-based supply of organic food.

Suggested Citation

  • Andrew J Murphy, 2003. "(Re)Solving Space and Time: Fulfilment Issues in Online Grocery Retailing," Environment and Planning A, , vol. 35(7), pages 1173-1200, July.
    • Handle: RePEc:sae:envira:v:35:y:2003:i:7:p:1173-1200
    DOI: 10.1068/a35102
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1068/a35102
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1068/a35102?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Steve Wood, 2002. "Organisational Restructuring, Knowledge and Spatial Scale: The Case of the US Department Store Industry," Tijdschrift voor Economische en Sociale Geografie, Royal Dutch Geographical Society KNAG, vol. 93(1), pages 8-33, February.
    2. Andrew Currah, 2002. "Behind the Web Store: The Organisational and Spatial Evolution of Multichannel Retailing in Toronto," Environment and Planning A, , vol. 34(8), pages 1411-1441, August.
    3. Andrew Leyshon, 2001. "Time–Space (and Digital) Compression: Software Formats, Musical Networks, and the Reorganisation of the Music Industry," Environment and Planning A, , vol. 33(1), pages 49-77, January.
    4. Andrew Murphy, 2002. "The Emergence of Online Food Retailing: A Stakeholder Perspective," Tijdschrift voor Economische en Sociale Geografie, Royal Dutch Geographical Society KNAG, vol. 93(1), pages 47-61, February.
    5. Neil Wrigley, 2002. "Transforming the Corporate Landscape of US Food Retailing: Market Power, Financial Re‐engineering and Regulation," Tijdschrift voor Economische en Sociale Geografie, Royal Dutch Geographical Society KNAG, vol. 93(1), pages 62-82, February.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Teller, Christoph & Kotzab, Herbert & Grant, David B., 2012. "The relevance of shopper logistics for consumers of store-based retail formats," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 19(1), pages 59-66.
    2. Michelle Lowe & Neil Wrigley, 2010. "The “Continuously Morphing” Retail TNC During Market Entry: Interpreting Tesco’s Expansion into the United States," Economic Geography, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 86(4), pages 381-408, October.
    3. Agatz, Niels A.H. & Fleischmann, Moritz & van Nunen, Jo A.E.E., 2008. "E-fulfillment and multi-channel distribution - A review," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 187(2), pages 339-356, June.
    4. Bowen, John T., 2008. "Moving places: the geography of warehousing in the US," Journal of Transport Geography, Elsevier, vol. 16(6), pages 379-387.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Andrew Currah, 2002. "Behind the Web Store: The Organisational and Spatial Evolution of Multichannel Retailing in Toronto," Environment and Planning A, , vol. 34(8), pages 1411-1441, August.
    2. Neiberger Cordula & Mensing Matthias & Kubon Jonas, 2020. "Geographische Handelsforschung im Zeitalter der Digitalisierung: Eine Bestandsaufnahme," ZFW – Advances in Economic Geography, De Gruyter, vol. 64(4), pages 197-210, November.
    3. Godfrey Yeung & Kim Leng Ang, 2016. "Online Fashion Retailing and Retail Geography: The Blogshop Phenomenon in Singapore," Tijdschrift voor Economische en Sociale Geografie, Royal Dutch Geographical Society KNAG, vol. 107(1), pages 81-99, February.
    4. Jesse W.J. Weltevreden & Oedzge A.L.C. Atzema & Koen Frenken & Karlijn de Kruijf & Frank G. van Oort, 2005. "The Geography of Internet Adoption by Retailers," Papers in Evolutionary Economic Geography (PEEG) 0510, Utrecht University, Department of Human Geography and Spatial Planning, Group Economic Geography, revised Sep 2005.
    5. Cheng-Yi Lin, 2014. "The Evolution of Taipei’s Music Industry: Cluster and Network Dynamics in the Innovation Practices of the Music Industry," Urban Studies, Urban Studies Journal Limited, vol. 51(2), pages 335-354, February.
    6. Arthur Price, 2016. "Leveraging Technology to Bridge the Gap between Independent Artists and Reaching the Right Consumer," Journal of Entrepreneurship and Innovation in Emerging Economies, Entrepreneurship Development Institute of India, vol. 2(2), pages 136-160, July.
    7. A. N. Pilyasov & R. V. Goncharov, 2023. "Location of Productive Forces in Russia in an Innovation Economy," Regional Research of Russia, Springer, vol. 13(1), pages 129-141, March.
    8. Ron A Boschma & Jesse W J Weltevreden, 2008. "An Evolutionary Perspective on Internet Adoption by Retailers in the Netherlands," Environment and Planning A, , vol. 40(9), pages 2222-2237, September.
    9. Michelle Lowe & Neil Wrigley, 2010. "The “Continuously Morphing” Retail TNC During Market Entry: Interpreting Tesco's Expansion into the United States," Economic Geography, Clark University, vol. 86(4), pages 381-408, October.
    10. Matthew A Zook, 2003. "Underground Globalization: Mapping the Space of Flows of the Internet Adult Industry," Environment and Planning A, , vol. 35(7), pages 1261-1286, July.
    11. Ya-Feng Zhang, 2022. "Cultural and Creative Industries and Copyright at the Regional Level: The Cases of Shenzhen and Hangzhou in China," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(9), pages 1-17, April.
    12. Jesse Weltevreden & Karlijn De Kruijf & Oedzge Atzema & Koen Frenken & Frank Van Oort, 2005. "The b2c e-commerce landscape of the Dutch retail sector," ERSA conference papers ersa05p228, European Regional Science Association.
    13. Ron A. Boschma & Jesse W.J. Weltevreden, 2005. "B2c e-commerce adoption in inner cities: An evolutionary perspective," Papers in Evolutionary Economic Geography (PEEG) 0503, Utrecht University, Department of Human Geography and Spatial Planning, Group Economic Geography, revised Feb 2005.
    14. Erik Hitters, 2011. "Back to Hilversum: Consolidation of the Dutch Broadcast Cluster," Chapters, in: Charlie Karlsson & Robert G. Picard (ed.), Media Clusters, chapter 5, Edward Elgar Publishing.
    15. Teemu Makkonen, 2014. "Tales from the Thousand Lakes: Placing the Creative Network of Metal Music in Finland," Environment and Planning A, , vol. 46(7), pages 1586-1600, July.
    16. Timothy F. Ledoux & Igor Vojnovic & June Manning Thomas & Kameshwari Pothukuchi, 2017. "Standing in the Shadows of Obesity: The Local Food Environment and Obesity in Detroit," Tijdschrift voor Economische en Sociale Geografie, Royal Dutch Geographical Society KNAG, vol. 108(5), pages 605-624, October.
    17. Chilese Erica & Russo Antonio Paolo, 2009. "Urban fashion policies: lessons from the Barcelona catwalks," EBLA Working Papers 200803, University of Turin.
    18. Dominic Power & Daniel Hallencreutz, 2002. "Profiting from Creativity? The Music Industry in Stockholm, Sweden and Kingston, Jamaica," Environment and Planning A, , vol. 34(10), pages 1833-1854, October.
    19. Louise Crewe, 2013. "When Virtual and Material Worlds Collide: Democratic Fashion in the Digital Age," Environment and Planning A, , vol. 45(4), pages 760-780, April.
    20. Allen J Scott, 2005. "Cultural-Products Industries And Urban Economic Development: Prospects For Growth And Market Contestation In Global Context," Urban/Regional 0511005, University Library of Munich, Germany.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:sae:envira:v:35:y:2003:i:7:p:1173-1200. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: SAGE Publications (email available below). General contact details of provider: .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.