Perceived Importance and Quality Attributes of Automated Parcel Locker Services in Urban Areas

Abstract

Recent global trends related to the increasing use of e-commerce are becoming a challenge for courier transport, especially in the last-mile process of delivering products to the final retail recipient. One delivery method is the personal collection of the parcel in an automated post box, available 24/7 for the customer. Our research method was based on a preliminary selection of the most important features of parcel lockers’ service quality, which were extracted based on the analysis of the scientific literature and previous research. This analysis was carried out by conducting a survey of Polish parcel locker users that provided data coded according to the dimensions of the Kano model. Based on the total satisfaction index, the results allowed us to conclude that a dedicated application (−0.96), proper placement of the parcel in the box (−0.82), adjusting the size of the parcel to the size of the box (−0.79), the location of parcel stations (−0.74), and ensuring improvements for the disabled (−0.62) are the most important features in the process of the automatic delivery of parcels to recipients in urban areas. This paper enriches the literature on the customer service quality of self-service technologies for last-mile delivery with the use of automated parcel lockers.