LAB Jeunes puts slow logistics under the microscope

A fundamental question arises: is speed at all costs the only possible path to a high-performance, desirable and sustainable supply chain? It is in this context of tension between the contradictory expectations of consumers and ecological and economic imperatives that the concept of slow logistics takes on its full meaning. Far from being a step backwards, this approach proposes a re-evaluation of speed, not as an end in itself, but as an element to be optimized in the service of more thoughtful, more resilient and more responsible logistics.

This article from LAB Jeunes invites you to demystify slow logistics and slow down. Because choosing "better" over "faster" is already changing the world.

Generations Y (Millennials), Z and the emerging Alpha Generation have profoundly transformed customer relations. Having grown up in a hyper-connected world, these demographic groups are characterized by a thirst for immediacy and an unprecedented demand for personalization.

For them, waiting has become an anomaly rather than a norm.

The notion of acceptable lead times has been drastically reduced: "delivered in 24 hours", or even on the same day. This demand for responsiveness imposes an unprecedented level of flexibility and precision on the supply chain, from automated inventory management to meticulous orchestration of logistics flows. The slightest delay or mishap can damage customer satisfaction, and even brand loyalty.

To meet these demanding needs, many companies have had to adopt omnichannel marketing. This customer-centric strategic approach harmonizes, integrates and synchronizes all communication, sales and service channels. Logistics thus become a key differentiating lever in a saturated market, where competition often comes down to the last few meters of delivery.

At the same time, these same consumers, particularly the younger generations, are increasingly sensitive to environmental issues. They expect brands not only to meet their immediate needs, but also to act responsibly. An eloquent figure underlines this trend: 80% of consumers say they are ready to switch brands in favor of a company more committed to sustainable development.

Companies must now combine immediacy and eco-responsibility, two often conflicting objectives. As a result of this dual requirement, and under increasing regulatory pressure, the link between Supply Chain and customer satisfaction has been considerably strengthened, particularly in the B2C e-commerce sector. One of the main challenges today is managing the last mile, i.e. the final delivery phase.

Often the most costly, the most polluting and the most visible for the consumer, last-mile management represents :

• A key to meeting customer expectations: it directly influences customer satisfaction and loyalty. Some 88%[1] of e-buyers consider delivery to be an important purchasing criterion.

• Rising logistics costs linked to personalized delivery (time slots, lockers, free returns, etc.).

• Environmental impact: Light commercial vehicles used for deliveries account for around 30%[2] of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions in cities, and urban travel accounts for a third of total freight transport emissions. The last mile accounts for around 25% of the supply chain's environmental footprint.

The World Economic Forum's 2024 report on urban logistics points out that urban parcel flows are set to increase by 78% by 2030, threatening to saturate infrastructures and increase the carbon footprint of e-commerce. Companies must therefore reinvent their business models by pooling deliveries, using soft modes (cargo bikes, electric vehicles), setting up urban micro-hubs and algorithmic route optimization.

This speed, the ultimate argument for pseudo-performance, has made us lose sight of the real issues and consequences of a chain that's running out of control. Slow logistics is not a morality of slowness, it's an intelligence of tempo. This emerging concept suggests rethinking logistics not from the angle of immediacy, but from that of responsibility.

This starts with a simple gesture: make the trade-offs visible. When making a choice, customers need to know what their option weighs in terms of CO², reliability and total cost. When the footprint and probability of delivery are displayed, the purchase ceases to be a gamble and the experience becomes enlightened and responsible.

Reprogramming the tempo means distinguishing the urgent from the hurried. Not everything deserves to arrive tomorrow morning. The vital, yes; the current, no. We would add that a high-performance chain :

• assumes differentiated cadences ;
• consolidates when relevant;
• mutualize when possible.
• is based on micro-hubs that bring people together without getting in the way;
• shift to low-carbon modes that reduce the environmental footprint without sacrificing reliability;
• is based on shared data that harmonizes rather than obscures.

As for the city, it can no longer absorb the infinite addition of solitary solutions. The next frontier isn't a higher warehouse or a faster van, it's interoperability (coordinated slots, common interfaces, hubs open to multiple operators and a shared data language).

Our generation doesn't wait for permission to try: it tests, measures and publishes. Give it a year, and it will demonstrate that a proportion of urban flows can be shifted to rail, river or cargo bike; that returns can be avoided through better packaging design and more honest dialogue; that the promise "sober by default, express on justification" raises service levels without lowering satisfaction. Give it shared metrics, and the competition will be on total performance, not display speed alone.

This plea is not a renunciation of progress: it is its demand.

Progress isnot about arriving earlier and earlier, but about arriving at the right time, at the right cost, with the smallest possible footprint. No technology is hostile to this vision: AI that predicts, data that sheds light, tools that orchestrate rounds and avoid empty runs all serve the same ambition, as long as accountability is accepted.

The aim of LAB Jeunes, and of our generation as a whole, is to get to grips with these issues, which reconcile competition and cooperation, performance and efficiency, consumption and responsibility.

As soon as you open the door to a warehouse, the poetry of intention collides with the architecture of reality. Slowing down flows in order to think them through means accepting a new logistical grammar made up of correspondences, breathing spaces and fruitful downtime. But the market still conjugates everything in the present tense: saturated rails, limited river slots, micro-hubs that are all too rare outside hypercentres. Consolidation of orders promises better-filled trucks and more fuel-efficient shuttles, but it also brings uncertainty to the table. A storm on the Rhone corridor, a delay on a lock, and the whole score shifts. The "reasonable deadline" then becomes a fragile promise: too ambitious, it frustrates; too cautious, it discourages.

Building a "slow"network requires patient capital, an investment aimed at operational savings and reduced risk. Shared hubs that can't be rented by the day, reusable containers that need to be tracked, washed and repatriated, secure data platforms to orchestrate sharing between competitors: this is CAPEX at the service of a more sober OPEX.

The message to shareholders is clear: inventory is not the only item that ties up capital; the absence of shared infrastructure, reuse loops and interoperability also ties up value in empty runs, failed deliveries, returns, penalties and regulatory risks.

The payback here is in stable volumes, trust and transparency. The result: higher load factors, avoided kilometers, lower total cost of service and reduced non-financial risk. Slowness isn't just a fancy: it's a cost structure that improves over time.

Cyclo-logistics is rightly celebrated for its discretion, its cleanliness, its way of stitching up the city. But the beauty of the gesture is not enough to protect the worker. Poorly supervised, the boom in cargo transport can create grey areas, where workers are paid by the hour and their working hours stretched to absorb irregular flows. Conversely, professionalizing the sector requires costly skills:

• Multimodal planning ;
• Data management ;
• Mastery of interoperable information systems.

And then there's our arch-rival: fast fashion and, even more so, its ultra-fast incarnation on the Web. They don't just sell clothes; they sell a permanent acceleration of desire. Micro-collections spring up every week, sometimes every day; the algorithm moves supply at the speed of a thumb, and logistics follow. Prices compressed to the extreme, fleeting traceability, instant gratification: this mechanism installs a pedagogy of reflex, an addiction to the "now" that makes any delay suspect.

The standard becomes invisible and tyrannical : delivering fast is no longer a performance, it's a must. In the face of this competition, innovation is not enough if it cannot be understood. Warehouse automation, AI for route optimization and electrified fleets are making fast logistics ever more efficient and, in some cases, less carbon-intensive.

It's a tough comparison: if fast is green, what's the point of slowing down? The answer can't be a sermon. It requires a clear contract with the customer: say what's urgent and what isn't; display, for each option, the total cost and the real footprint; recognize that waiting has a price, and that immediacy also has one, long hidden.

Slow logistics won't win by pitting morality against comfort, but truth against reflex. It must transform expectations into value, make the invisible visible (simple, published, comparable indicators) and, finally, turn cooperation into a competitive weapon. These are political as well as industrial gestures.

None of this will erase the attraction of "everything, right now". But economic history is also about storytelling and proof.

Only then will it be able to shift the center of gravity: no longer pitting slowness against modernity, but proposing a modernity that no longer confuses speed with progress.

At the end of the day, we never just deliver a package. We deliver a way of inhabiting time, the city and the planet. As long as speed reigns unchecked, slow logistics will appear to be in the minority. If it becomes legible, measurable and desirable, the law could change: the pace will cease to be a diktat and become a decision - ours.

Sources :

• https://www.supplychaininfo.eu/dossier-transporteur/les-enjeux-environnementaux-transporteurs/
• https://www.carbone4.com/analyse-faq-fret
• https://mdpi-res.com/d_attachment/sustainability/sustainability-17-01128/article_deploy/sustainability-17-01128.pdf?version=1738237365
• SL211-Slow-logistics.pdf