E-commerce and logistics sprawl: A spatial exploration of last-mile logistics platforms

Abstract

The rise of e-commerce helped fuel consumer appetite for quick home deliveries. One consequence has been the placing of some logistics facilities in proximity to denser consumer markets. The trend departs from prevailing discussion on “logistics sprawl,” or the proliferation of warehousing into the urban periphery. This study spatially and statistically explores the facility- and region-level dimensions that characterize the centrality of e-commerce logistics platforms. Analyzing 910 operational Amazon logistics platforms in 89 U.S. metropolitan statistical areas (MSAs) between 2013 and 2021, this study estimates temporal changes in distances to relative, population centroids and population-weighted market densities. Results reveal that although some platforms serving last-mile deliveries locate closer to consumers than upstream distribution platforms to better fulfill time-demands, centrality varies due to facility operating characteristics, market size, and when the platform opened.