Coordinating Inventory Replenishment and Local Delivery in Dingdong Maicai’s Front-Warehouse Network

Recently, the front-warehouse model has improved the efficiency of order fulfilment for fresh e-commerce; however, coordination issues between inventory replenishment and urban distribution still exist, such as limited storage space, product perishability and fluctuating customer demand. This paper studies the coordination of inventory replenishment and urban distribution in Dingdong Maicai's front-warehouse network. A qualitative case study approach was used, and Dingdong Maicai's publicly available financial and operational reports and relevant academic studies published between 2019 and May 2026 were selected based on their relevance and credibility for thematic comparison to identify recurring operational problems and verify the company's own statements. The three problems found in the study are: insufficient demand forecasting and differentiated inventory management; an inflexible replenishment system and inefficient transportation plan; weak information coordination between warehousing and distribution. Based on the above analysis, a combined inventory model of differentiated allocation, centralized real-time replenishment, coordinated transportation planning and integrated digital data sharing can be adopted to enhance inventory turnover and last-mile delivery efficiency. The above results can provide a reference for other fresh e-commerce enterprises in the front-warehouse model.