Professor Mark Goh, director of industry research at NUS’ The Logistics Institute Asia Pacific, suggested that Singapore could see more “mobile lockers”.
An example of these are trucks from e-commerce platform ezbuy, which invites a mass of customers to meet at certain locations and times to collect their parcels.
“That’s a nice innovation for Singapore – in that you save on infrastructure cost, infrastructure space, and yet … give the assurance of security and custody of goods.”
All these developments would be crucial, because the last mile is usually the most inefficient part of the urban logistics network, consuming up to 75 per cent of costs, said Prof Goh.
These moves would thus manage costs and shrink carbon footprints, he said.
On a broader estate level, having dedicated parking for delivery vehicles and pick-up or drop-off zones with time limits would also help, said CPG’s Ms Ang.
WHAT WILL HAPPEN TO MALLS?
Of all the sectors that have been disrupted by e-commerce, one of the biggest question marks hangs over the future of malls.
With e-commerce, retailers no longer need to be in prime, convenient, or even physical locations. Tough competition from online channels has continually pushed retail rents lower over the years.
Previous models of urban planning, which might have estimated that malls had a catchment of a 5km-radius, for example, also “don’t work anymore”, said Mr Tan Shee Tiong, an adjunct associate professor of architecture at the National University of Singapore (NUS).
Mr Tan, who is also CEO of architecture firm Interactive Architects Planners, added that land use allocations will change because of this.
And though malls will not disappear, their formats will evolve.
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