Transportation Makes Modern Retail “Click”: Research Questions for the Future

Abstract The modern retail environment is evolving rapidly under the confluence of technological advancement, environmental uncertainty, and general market dynamism. We summarize and synthesize the studies in this special-topic issue to illustrate how transportation capabilities enable members of the modern retail supply chain to adopt new business models, enhance lifestyles of community members, and contribute to corporate social responsibility. Further, we propose extensions to the studies published in this issue to further examine the future of transportation in retail. Notably, we call for future studies to explore how retail supply chain members may (1) develop new transportation and distribution capabilities by overcoming technical debt associated with specialized but abandoned assets; (2) leverage secondary markets to develop a closed-loop supply chain to maximize value and minimize waste; and (3) use enhanced transportation transparency and visibility to enhance customer service and sustainability efforts in retail supply chains.