Insights from the introduction of an online logistics service system

Providing customers with online logistics service systems that enable instantaneous and continuous communication within and between firms has become a key priority for many organizations. This paper focuses on a description of the roll out and initial implementation of an online logistics service system by United States Cold Storage (USCS) and on insights gained from the experience. The authors believe that USCS’s experience has wide applicability and that it will be both informative and insightful to managers at firms making similar transitions into e‐commerce. In addition, the results of a focus group held one year after implementation with USCS user customers are discussed, and lessons learned from the first year of operations are reviewed.