In view of the state of research and the regional experiences and needs, we derived the following three hypotheses:

The literature on regional logistics shows that approaches such as crowd logistics in rural areas cannot be regarded as viable in the long run, as long as only economic aspects are considered. The experiences from the study region support the findings in the literature that social aspects could be important arguments to justify the introduction of a regional logistics approach. However, the literature and the statements from the study region remain rather unspecific about the social aspects.

Hypothesis 1: In peripheral, structurally weak, rural areas, a permanent establishment of regional logistics can only be achieved by considering social aspects as part of the benefits to the region. To enable an evaluation of such social benefits, they have to be clearly defined.

Literature and experience in the field of regional logistics show that organising the improvement of regional supply in peripheral rural areas while depending exclusively on the private sector is challenging.

Hypothesis 2: A sustainable regional logistics approach includes a mix of different strategies, involving the private and the public sectors as well as voluntary engagement by a range of regional actors. This makes it necessary to adapt previously practised organisational and individual routines to new logistics processes or supply concepts as part of the spectrum of social aspects mentioned above.

We assume that the complexity of the pursued regional logistics approach (e.g. integration of social aspects, the mix of different strategic approaches) requires that a variety of actors with different experiences, resources and goals need to cooperate for its establishment.

Hypothesis 3: A suitable procedural approach must be chosen that allows the knowledge and experience of different actors to be integrated and the logistics concept to be developed and optimised in a joint iterative “trial-and-error process”. A transdisciplinary format such as the real-world laboratory is particularly suitable since it promotes social learning and problem solving in a co-creation process as a basis for the long-term establishment of the innovation.

With a focus on these three hypotheses, we have chosen approaches and methods that make it possible to deduct plausible explanatory correlations from the available empirical material.

The project UCKER Warentakt (UWT) is a social logistics approach within the framework of a real-world laboratory. Based on hypothesis 1, the research team developed UWT as a regional logistics approach that explicitly includes social aspects. The social aspects chosen were very relevant in the evaluation of the approach and the decision about whether it will be established in the long run.

In setting up the UWT

https://uckerwarentakt.de/; https://www.facebook.com/uckerwarentakt (24.07.2023).

The first service was called Regionale Lieferangebote (Regional supply options). Residents from three villages (Gerswalde, Flieth and Brüssow) in the region of Uckermark were offered the opportunity to order goods from participating retailers in nearby medium-sized cities (Prenzlau, Templin). The retailers brought the ordered products in packages to the central bus station in their city where they handed them to the public transport drivers. At the bus stop in the village, the employees of small local shops picked up the packages and kept them in the shops until the consumers then claimed them later.

The second service, referred to as Retouren-Service, allowed residents to send return shipments of courier, express and parcel services to the parcel shop in the nearest larger city from where they were then forwarded to the respective service. These shipments could be returns from national or international online retail. Promoting the service also involved communicating the benefit for the region beyond the benefits for the individual, such as the contribution it made to the maintenance of local supply and the existing public transport.

Our regional logistics approach encompassed the following social aspects:

In short, all the stakeholders involved had to mobilise resources to establish UWT’s services, going beyond their organisational or individual self-interests. The approach required a mix of different strategies to support the long-term viability of the logistics approach as formulated in hypothesis 2.

The central aim of UCKER Warentakt (UWT) was to test and adjust the two services implemented jointly by social and academic actors in order for them to become established permanently. In the literature, authors recommend a real-world laboratory as a methodological framework for this kind of transformation-oriented experimental approach involving cooperation between science and practice (Schäpke/Bergmann/Stelzer et al. 2018; Bergmann/Schäpke/Marg et al. 2021). Therefore, a core team of partners from academia and practice (UVG acting as one partner in the consortium) jointly designed the framework for the test run as a real-world laboratory in which all actors worked together in repeated process loops. 14 local retailers from two larger cities in the Uckermark district, small stores in three villages, bus drivers and a Hermes parcel store interacted in different constellations to carry out the services in a number of consecutive steps. Since all inhabitants living in the three villages are potential users of the two services, we regarded them as relevant knowledge providers for the project. In the design process of both services, the research team interviewed ten inhabitants. During the test phase, users shared their experience of using the services of UWT and brought forward their ideas for improvements using semi-standardised templates in telephone interviews and in questionnaires, which they received with their orders. In both formats, the questions focused on the relevance of social aspects, the effects of the UWT and its long-term prospects. In addition, specific questions related to the individual benefit of participating in the UWT and to the evaluation of the cooperation within the framework of the real-world laboratory. The minutes of the telephone interviews were then used for the refinement of the UWT.

The test itself was set up as a “second order transformation experiment” (Fazey/Schäpke/Caniglia et al. 2018: 65) resembling a learning by doing process, which allowed for iterative trial and error as well as continuous improvement of the services. In addition to individual and collective learning, the academic team fostered capacity building. For this purpose, there were personal conversations on specific challenges in delivering the services. Two research assistants, who were continuously available for the cooperation partners, established an accompanying feedback process. On an almost daily basis, this provided the practitioners with relevant information and with quick solutions for problems and challenges to enable them to adapt their procedures easily and improve the quality of the services. In two workshops, the participants jointly reflected on the processes and adjusted them where necessary and possible. The decisions about adaptations took into account the capacities, competences, needs and possibilities of all participants. The team documented insights gained through trial and error and could therefore transfer discussed suggestions for improvement to the entire test setting.

Furthermore, an accompanying formative process evaluation by the Centre for Technology and Society (ZTG, Technische Universität Berlin) stimulated joint periodic reflection on the methodological challenges of the real-world laboratory by serving as a sparring partner for the academic team (Di Giulio/Defila 2018: 22–24; Fazey/Schäpke/Caniglia et al. 2018: 66). The formative evaluation also provided a framework for systematically planning and recording the societal effects (Belcher/Davel/Claus 2020: 10; Nagy/Schäfer 2022) as well as for impact-oriented monitoring of research processes particularly related to the long-term perspective, going beyond the funded existence of the lab. The formative evaluation applied only methods of qualitative empirical social research such as questionnaires, semi-standardised interviews and workshops for joint reflection on processes and results.

During the real-world laboratory, the retailers also acted as co-creators within the communication strategy. The research team asked them to share information about the service and their participation in their networks – online or in personal communication with their customers. The academic team provided draft texts and designs for this purpose – which also helped achieve a uniform appearance and a high quality of communication. The retailers were able to advertise the new offers in a range of ways. Some put out flyers from UWT or informed their walk-in customers in personal conversations. Others promoted the service through their online presence or their social media channels. These variations in communication about the service resulted in learning opportunities for the whole logistics network.

The stakeholders also possessed different resources, capacities and capabilities for taking on new tasks to successfully establish the test routes. Nevertheless, all of the actors involved who implemented the service had to learn new practices such as online marketing, adequate packaging or using QR-codes. In part, these changes required the acquisition of new skills and the establishment of new routines. They had to adapt familiar procedures and time management while additional human resources were generally not available for the test.

On the side of the UVG, we witnessed a learning curve in terms of a long-term perspective towards sustainable development. During the project, the perspective of the UVG shifted from a short-term economic perspective towards an acknowledgement of the other societal and environmental advantages of the services. At the end of the test phase, the management confirmed in an interview that the company is increasingly focusing on improving its public perception and image by emphasising the social and environmental aspects of UWT.

The test phase showed two important results: the logistics process worked and there was continuity both in offers and in demand. UWT proved to be a regional logistics approach that includes relevant social aspects – as formulated in hypothesis 1.

In the interviews (n=13), retailers indicated that they participate in UWT for more than just economic and pragmatic reasons. From their perspective, UWT is not only a new service that provides them with new opportunities to improve their retail options. It also has the potential to strengthen regional value creation, in contrast with globally operating online retailers.

The interviewed customers (n=6) claimed that by using UWT they wanted to support local retailers with whom they often have a personal relationship. While this aspect supports the social orientation of the logistics approach, others differed from this perspective: some users used the service mainly to save time, avoid extra trips and for reasons of convenience. However, they were not particularly interested in supporting regional retail.

At the level of regional leaders (mayors, district council), a workshop showed that they associate the new service with benefits for the region, above all, the maintenance of quality of life. The regional actors understood social logistics as an infrastructure, similar to a road or the internet. The infrastructure helps to ensure access to goods for all sections of the population in all parts of the region.

UVG was the main project partner in the implementation of social logistics. It has been able to develop new solutions to the challenges identified within the delivery process. As mentioned above, UVG’s view of the project shifted from a short-term economic perspective to recognising the additional social and environmental benefits UWT could provide in the future. In the long-term, the company wants to contribute to the mobility transformation by showing how existing infrastructures can be utilised more effectively. Accordingly, UWT is applying an approach to social logistics as it contributes to handling social challenges constructively and cooperatively.

It has been a challenge for customers and retailers to change their habits in accordance to the services offered. As the project worked with limited resources, the services could not compete with the offers of professional online shops, online platforms or supra-regional offers of courier, express and parcel services. Consequently, participants in the project had to compromise if they wanted to use UWT. They encountered imperfect technology

This refers to a mobile application WTapp developed in the project for handling parcel shipments.

The interviews with customers and retailers demonstrated that they appreciated the UWT as providing reliable, low-threshold access to local supply even in very peripheral rural regions. Furthermore, the interviews showed that the exchange between the retailers and their customers as well as among the retailers has improved. Retailers who had not been in contact before, got in touch with each other in order to cooperate in the UWT. Customers visited new retailers or visited them more frequently to choose, pick up or drop off shipments. All these circumstances led to a reinforcement or even the emergence of social nodes in the region.

We understand the village shops (but also the parcel shop and the railway stations of UVG) that are connected to the UWT as new social nodes. They fulfil new social tasks within the framework of the UWT. This is true, for example, regarding communication: the village shops exchange information on new services and topics with a variety of new actors (UVG, retailers in the towns, customers who did not use the village shop before) within the framework of the UWT.

In this section, we discuss the three hypotheses underlying our experiment. We reflect on the empirical results and on the concept of social logistics. We describe the strategies that enabled us to establish a social logistics approach and provide recommendations for ensuring its long-term prospects.

Hypothesis 1: In peripheral, structurally weak, rural areas, a permanent establishment of regional logistics can only be achieved by considering social aspects as part of the benefits to the region. To enable an evaluation of such social benefits they have to be clearly defined.

Our results support this hypothesis. In addition to previous definitions of social logistics (shown in Section 2), this paper considers the associated social exchange of information to be a characteristic feature, in addition to the exchange of goods. Our social logistics project UWT has the potential to contribute to the improvement of people’s quality of life and helps to satisfy social needs in the long run. In interviews, the participants emphasised the added value of the service for themselves and for the communities in the region. However, some of the participants were only seeking a functional new service.

Within social logistics, the actors involved are often engaged citizens who have little experience in regional logistics. Exchange among the actors involved enables a constant reflection process that helps improve competences and practices as well as optimise the services. The mutual exchange is essential for the success of social logistics. Socially oriented logistics does not exclude anyone, but instead it tries to specifically include those who are cut off from purely economically oriented logistics systems.

Participating retailers understood their role in securing regional supply and were motivated to be involved without significant additional economic benefits. This engagement contributes to the quality of life in structurally weak rural regions. However, there is a risk that the private sector will reduce its own infrastructural contributions because it assumes that the public sector will provide the necessary access to all private goods and services (Conrad 2022: 1). The test phase of one year has not been long enough to provide evidence for such a potential trade-off.

Concerning its functions in the long run, it is insufficient for social logistics to succeed solely in one target dimension (the economic one). In the aftermath of the test phase, the UVG introduced a 1-euro ticket for the shipments which generates some profit. Due to the limited number of shipments, the effect remains marginal so far. Still, the 1‑euro ticket demonstrates that social logistics is of relevance as it can be integrated into public transport options and can be scaled up.

Social aspects may play the most essential role for social logistics in its starting phase. When evaluating social logistics, it is important to consider how it contributes to strengthening social structures, how it affects the quality of life of the actors involved in and connected to it, and which new qualities are created.

The project has improved communication between village shops, logistics providers, retailers and customers. New social nodes have been created. Among other things, the new social structures are characterised by sufficient trust and communication to make the complex logistics approach work.

Nevertheless, it should be pointed out that, in view of the financial challenges many regions are facing, social aspects alone are not sufficiently convincing drivers for action. We are currently experiencing this in the district of Uckermark, where the sanctions against Russia in response to the war of aggression against Ukraine threaten the economic existence of many companies. Hence, social and ecological objectives are attracting less attention (o.V. 2022).

Hypothesis 2: A sustainable regional logistics approach includes a mix of different strategies, including the private and the public sectors as well as voluntary engagement by a range of regional actors. This makes it necessary to adapt previously practised organisational and individual routines to new logistics processes or supply concepts as part of the spectrum of social aspects mentioned above.

Our results support this hypothesis. UWT brought together the three strategies which Küpper and Tautz (2015: 144–149) had identified in rural areas of seven European countries. First of all, private-sector offers complemented local supply with selected goods in the UWT delivery area. Secondly, within UWT we used targeted subsidies to initially focus on the use and experience of the services developed and not on competition with the offers from the courier, express and parcel services. This allowed the social logistics services to be offered free of charge during the test phase. In the long run, the strategy of targeted subsidies helps UVG to continue to provide the services and infrastructure developed in the project, even if no substantial profit is made. In addition, the third strategy is related to the engagement and responsibility of residents for the local supply of their communities. In the test phase, we realised that these strategies could be brought together in synergy. Nevertheless, it should be considered how the interaction of strategies that target different actors can be coordinated. In their analysis, Küpper and Tautz (2015: 151) do not directly address how the three individual strategies might interact and reinforce each other. Instead, they refer to the need for further research in this regard.

Hypothesis 3: A suitable procedural approach must be chosen that allows the knowledge and experience of different actors to be integrated and that develops and optimises the logistics concept of UWT in a joint iterative “trial-and-error process”. A transdisciplinary format such as the real-world laboratory is particularly suitable since it promotes social learning and problem solving in a co-creation process as a basis for the long-term establishment of the innovation.

Our results support this hypothesis. Actors who were involved in co-designing the processes – e.g. through participation in adaptation workshops – were not discouraged by the fact that the experiment took a long time to find the best mode of operation. Mutual learning from failures or solving problems together empowered the actors. These new competences of the actors involved contributed to the resilience of the social logistics approach we tested. The joint practice of exchanging goods and information worked well.

However, it would have been useful to involve potential customers more intensively in the co-design of the services. Greater involvement might have strengthened their commitment and could have led to a more intensive use of the services. Moreover, UVG has been very reluctant to play a role in co-designing and communicating the service due to a lack of resources and experience in acting as a “social-ecological” service provider. However, throughout the duration of the project, a learning process led to stakeholders adopting responsibility for a continuation of the service after the research project ended. The retailers had to make their decisions mainly according to economic criteria in a period of multiple crises (i.e. restrictions due to Covid-19, Russian invasion of Ukraine). In this situation, only those retailers who already had adaptable structures and did not have to invest many resources in restructuring and establishing new practices were able to provide the new services without any difficulties.

The application of the real-world laboratory approach produced useful results but it required intensive support from the research team and thus many resources. The adoption of new practices (especially among clients) usually takes longer than one year and is subject to the influence of many external factors. For the permanent establishment of the services, the continuity of the structures of the real-world laboratory and especially the maintenance of exchange among the cooperation partners, continuous support is essential.

We encountered various challenges while testing the social logistics prototype. Many of these challenges are also relevant for attempts to permanently establish the UWT services in particular and for the lasting establishment of social logistics in general. The lack of equipment, structures, resources and competences of the actors involved can impede active participation in innovative activities. During the acquisition of retailers to participate in the project, we observed a decreasing willingness to experiment and engage in activities beyond their usual daily business. Only few of them could draw on established structures and competences, such as setting up and operating online shops. Additionally, the Covid-19 pandemic and the resulting lockdown tied up many of the stakeholders’ financial resources and personnel. Smaller and regional retailers often did not have the resources or competences to present their offers online and to consider how to effectively integrate their online and offline channels (Rimmer/Kam 2018: 15–18). Therefore, training and networking opportunities in a real-world laboratory are necessary to enable the development of innovative ideas and the necessary cooperation among different actors in the region to implement them.

As a research project, UWT could neither offer low price products like the contemporary large online retailers or platforms, nor the convenience of ordering directly with just a few clicks. Therefore, the largest challenge was the acquisition of customers. Küpper and Tautz (2015: 150–151) emphasise that creating a willingness to use new private-sector offers requires, first and foremost, intensive communication of the added values for individual users, for the community and for society. As UWT requires changes in behaviour such as shopping habits, this aspect is particularly important. Allocating sufficient financial resources and personnel for a broad communication campaign are essential for the long-term establishment of a social logistics approach. Therefore, regional or national institutions that are capable of providing the required subsidies and competences should be integrated from the very beginning. Such institutionally embedded resources could help different actors to build or expand their capacities and to further develop and adapt their business models to provide improved and diversified private sector offers.

The methodology of the real-world laboratory could only be implemented within limits as it was challenging to involve all actors to the same extent in the co-design, co-creation and evaluation process. Most of the actors have very limited time available in their daily lives. In addition, it was also challenging to involve users in the process of innovation development. The Covid-19 restrictions were also a considerable barrier in the research process. As meetings and workshops were only possible online, they were less effective and were confusing for many actors.

Originally, we also intended to explore the ecological perspective of the UWT approach. The aim was to determine which ecological effects the UWT has and whether these support the long-term establishment of the UWT. However, collecting the information and data needed for this assessment proved extremely difficult. Within the time period available, it was not possible to find out whether the use of the services actually reduces the use of private vehicles. However, we can see the potential for measurable ecological effects through upscaling the services to all bus lines of the UVG. We expect that the investigation of long-term effects could result in interesting findings. Even if each case of using the UWT only results in minor savings of CO₂, these could nonetheless add up to a relevant amount.