Smart Locker Adoption in Urban E-Commerce Logistics: Investigating Switching Intentions from Home Pickup Services

Abstract

In recent years, the rapid growth of e-commerce in Vietnam has put enormous pressure on last-mile delivery services providers. In this situation, smart lockers have emerged as a novel solution to help control online orders more closely, thereby optimizing last-mile delivery operations. However, this is still a new delivery method and the usage rate is not high. In Ho Chi Minh City, consumers still prefer to choose the traditional home pickup delivery. Therefore, this study was conducted to understand customers’ intention to switch from home pickup to smart locker delivery, the case of Shopee in Ho Chi Minh City. Based on the Push-Pull-Mooring theoretical framework, we built a research model consisting of appropriate variables. Then, we conducted a questionnaire survey in Ho Chi Minh City. The collected data and 492 valid responses were analyzed using SPSS 25.0 and SmartPLS 4.0 software. The results showed that the low perceived value of home pickup service and the attractiveness of smart lockers had a positive impact on customers’ switching intention. We also found that the impact of inertia in using home pickup service was insignificant on the switching intention of Shopee customers in Ho Chi Minh City. The research results have important implications for an e-commerce business as Shopee in formulating appropriate policies to effectively promote customers’ switching intentions during the implementation of their own smart locker system.