Customer Reviews

Extending the Supply Chain: How Cutting-Edge Companies Bridge the Critical Last Mile into Customers' Homes

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This book provides great insight from "industry leaders" on how to promise and deliver product sold through the Internet. Many of the early adopters of Internet based sales systems failed to consider the difficulties of integrating a new system into their existing strategy. Extending the Supply Chain provides great examples of both failures and successes in industry, as well as, outline a framework that will help companies better position themselves to use the Internet as a competitve advantage. This book is a must read for all individuals that wish to take the last mile and use the Intenet to build a strong, viable sales channel.

While most books on logistics and Supply Chain focus on the manufacturing and suppliers' side of the chain, this one takes you to the complete opposite, where the real value is, the CUSTOMER.
The book provides a thorough analysis of the 4 different models of delivery used by online retailers. The greatness of this book resides in the fact that it describes both the most successful online retailers' practices (Amazon, Freshdirect...) AND the biggest failures (Webvan) so we can learn from their mistakes.

Extending the Supply Chain is an excellent resource for the individual interested in establishing or perfecting a business that involves home delivery. The authors clearly identify the challenges relate to each type of customer. The research is thorough and comprehensive. The book is well laid out and easy to read. It is a great reference book!

Excellent!  For any company delivering goods directly to consumers' homes, this book is a must read!  Of particular interest to me were the following quotes: ..."The second major change that must be facilitated to make last mile supply chains truly soar is greater efficiency and standardization of home delivery."  ..."The primary challenge is delivering to a customer who is not home."  ..."Most, if not all, of the major third-party delivery companies are testing methods for unattended deliveries involving some type of controlled access smartbox."   ..."It is our belief that some type of larger, access-controlled box that is available to a wide variety of home delivery companies is an important hurdle for growing last mile deliveries."