The Impact of E-Commerce on Parcel Shipping Operators in The EU and The US

Sammanfattning: Parcel carriers are susceptible to changes in the supply chain industry, as the carrier industry consists of many stakeholders who have an impact on the way they function. The stakeholders in the carrier industry are directly affected by the market trends that in turn affect the carrier business. Currently, E-commerce has a major influence on supply chain design, the operation of parcel carriers and the consumers. One main area of this thesis study is to analyse the impact of E-commerce on the parcel carriers in the EU and the US. Over time, E-commerce has caused a shift in the logistics industry that has made the carriers update the solutions they provide to their customers and to update their operations to accommodate the changes brought about by E-commerce. Since the operations of carriers in the EU and the US are different, this study focusses on five major parameters (Segmentation, Networks, Services, Specification and Tariff Structure) that help understand the carriers better in these two regions. This study will also help European Logistics Software Providers to re-organise themselves so it may help them to perform better integration processes between the carrier and their customers. It is evident that E-commerce has affected the parcel carrier industry and that the Logistics Software Providers must consider these parameters to have harmonized collaboration between the stakeholders in the supply chain. It is also difficult to normalize the selection of factors to be considered in the selection of a parcel carrier since the factors have a different effect in different regions around the world.