Urbanization and e-commerce booming create new challenges and opportunities for warehouse management and logistics. Demand of online shopping and fast delivery will exponentially increase as the concurrence of the increase of annual growth of global population and urbanization rate, and the development of e-commerce. Besides, urban residents are anticipating wide variety of online products and faster delivery rate with higher reliability. Hence, the need of restructuring warehouse operation and distribution networks from traditional delivery of less frequent but timely ordered schedule to more untimely and non-patterned orders and deliveries.

Warehouse facilities has been built dedicated to online processing only, with locations in closer proximity of large urban areas, ports, and airports. Companies can have large distribution centers outside the city to save on renting cost or micro-fulfillment centers closer to the city with smaller area or multi-stories. The chosen location is extremely significant for sustainability to cut down on shipping distance and resources (time, energy, carbon footprint, etc.) and to assist better of the quick deliveries demand. The proximity to ports and airports allows companies to cut down on product moving time and energy and have flexible and beneficial schedule such as night-time shipping and offloads, and cross-docking (no storage in between transport vehicle).

Warehouses has also been adjusted to store multiple product types to better utilize storage capacity and provide faster deliveries with diverse customer demand. Hence, arise the need for proper equipment, such as heating or cooling systems and roofing insulation, to accommodate the perishable goods and provide suitable temperature for workers and goods. Sustainable choices of heating and cooling system can affect energy usage of the warehouse. Cooling effect can also be achieved from reflective roofs (sending sunlight in the opposite directions) and rooftop solar panels to produce renewable energy for the warehouse.

How effective can the strategies as well as recommendations presented in these passages minimize the negative sustainability implications of changes in warehousing facilities and distribution networks as driven by urbanization and the e-commerce boom? What can companies do to minimize the negative impacts (if any)?