Consumers’ preference for urban last-mile delivery: effects of value perception and long-term COVID-initiated contextual shifts

The economic and environmental challenges associated with Last Mile Delivery (LMD) give rise to the self-collection concept, yet the practical adoption is often below expectations. In this consumer-centric segment, adequate understandings of consumers are vital but are often lacking. To address this gap, this study examines consumers’ LMD preference with the Integrated Choice and Latent Variable framework. A stated choice experiment was commissioned in Singapore during the transition of COVID pandemic toward endemic. Our results showed that consumers accept unattended delivery methods and are no longer concerned with the delivery time window, a traditionally critical delivery attribute. Regarding latent perceptions, this study confirmed the significant effects of value perception on self-collection preferences. Nonetheless, individuals’ environmental consciousness was found to be insignificant. The relative effects of specific value statements were quantified using the marginal rate of substitution and the mediation roles of value perception on the sociodemographic-preferences relationships were validated.