Transformation in third party e-fulfilment: an effective benchmarking index

The Logistics industry is undergoing dramatic transformation as retail organisations focus on core competencies, outsource many of their logistics operations and explore online channels. Using a study of third party fulfillment providers in the UK over a 5 year period, this paper reports on quantitative changes in an index of relative transformation previously developed and published by the author, which indicates significant transformation from physical to knowledge based activities. These changes will have long-term impacts in the Logistics industry, and the index of relative transformation provides a useful means of modeling the transformation phenomenon and benchmarking logistics businesses' competitiveness in this environment.