Ecommerce in Rural Areas and Environmental Sustainability: The Last-Mile Delivery

Ecommerce models offer many benefits for business operations, such as convenience and easiness, decreased cost of inventory management, expanded customer base, enabled globalization and business analytics, etc. Virtual business models also promote sustainability by reducing energy and resource usage. Despite its pronounced benefits, ecommerce is still subject to challenges of environmental sustainability especially in rural areas. This research-in-progress study intends to better understand environmental implications of ecommerce in rural areas with the exploration of three questions: I) how are sellers and buyers conscious about ecommerce sustainability in rural areas, 2) What eco-innovation practices are engaged by business, and 3) what are environmental consequences associated with various types of deliver innovations.