Crowd logistics — a new phenomenon in the sharing economy

This article attempts to identify relatively new phenomenon in the economy of sharing, which is the crowd logistics. Despite the growing popularity, such initiatives are not yet the subject of many scientific papers, relatively few articles deal with these issues. The essence of crowd logistics is to create connections among market participants, with specific logistical resources, and those who report logistic needs. This is aimed at minimizing ineffective use of resources and activating unused competences. Using an exploratory approach based on a review of 77 active crowd logistics initiatives, solutions used in practice were investigated. These initiatives have been divided into groups defined in this article, and the main characteristics of crowd logistics versus traditional business logistics were highlighted. Attempts were also made to identify directions for development and the potential impact of crowd logistics on traditional businesses. This paper is based on the analysis of secondary sources: articles, reports of consulting companies and case studies available in branch magazines, on company websites and presented by the companies themselves as part of webinars.

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