Traditional Commerce Versus Electronic Commerce: A Case Study Under The Logistics Costs Management View

Abstract

The aim of this article is to see how a large Brazilian company of the retail sector makes the measurement and analysis of logistics costs of both its physical operations (traditional trade) as their virtual transactions (e-commerce). The research has been conducted in the contributions of strategic cost management for business sustainability. This is an unique descriptive case study, with a qualitative approach, performed in the 2nd half of 2013. Data were collected through interviews, document analysis and in situ observations. Data analyzes occurred by comparative interpretations. The main results showed no significant differences in the analysis and measurement of logistics costs between the two forms of trading. This can be explained partly by the fact that the company does not deal with electronic commerce differently in relation to the management of logistics costs. That is, both the operations of the virtual store as physical stores share the same logistics structure. Additional logistics costs in e-commerce are offset by higher margin practiced in this business model.

Keywords

• Strategic cost management
• Supply chain
• Logistics cost
• Traditional commerce
• E-commerce