E-commerce effects on packaging logistics research

The new Department of Design Sciences was established as a result of the reorganisation of the Lund Institute of Technology, Lund University. The main ambition of this new department is to facilitate interdisciplinary scientific research and to support the development of new research areas, one of which is packaging logistics where the packaging perspective is used to evaluate and develop logistics. Consequently it includes the product, its package and packing operations as well as the physical distribution system and the information systems involved, throughout the whole logistic value chain, including the end user.

With the Internet as one sales channel, the value chain will have to be modified and the role of the consumer will be different as compared to traditional sales channels. This paper will focus on the impacts of the Internet sales channel on the research discipline of packaging logistics, aiming at identifying the methodologies applicable in the area.

It will also focus on the possibilities of developing theories and methodologies when a new perspective on logistics is adopted. The findings are based on a literature review in the field of e-commerce related to packaging logistics seen from a consumer perspective, yielding an inventory of research methodologies in these related fields. Conclusions are drawn about which of the methodologies used are applicable and the development of methodologies for future research in the new discipline of packaging logistics in an e-commerce context is elaborated on.

In addition, the handling of problems derived from a consumer perspective and the possible activities caused by end-use demands are briefly elaborated upon. An account of the forthcoming projects in business-to-consumer e-commerce in relation to packaging logistics concludes the presentation.