Soft Computing

https://doi.org/10.1007/s00500-019-04046-8 (0123456789().,-volV)(0123456789().
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Constructing rural e-commerce logistics model based on ant colony

algorithm and artificial intelligence method
Zhitan Feng1

 Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature 2019

Abstract
In order to study the application of ant colony algorithm in rural e-commerce logistics mode, the third-party distribution
model was adopted as the logistics method with Xuzhou City’s fruit and vegetable agricultural products as the key research
object. Through the model construction, the problem of the third-party distribution model is analyzed. Based on the ant
colony algorithm, the shortest path and cost are calculated using MATLAB software. The cost and efficiency problems
under different variables are analyzed and the model evaluation is carried out. Finally, the difficulties at the urban and rural
end of the third-party distribution model are solved. The results show that the method improves the distribution efficiency
and reduces the logistics cost. Therefore, it is conducive to the advancement of rural e-commerce.

Keywords Ant colony algorithm  Rural  e-commerce  Logistics model  Artificial intelligence

1 Introduction headache for farmers. The information asymmetry has

With the development of network technology and the
improvement in people’s living standards, online shopping
has become a common form of consumption. Businessmen
can display their goods on the Internet in the form of
pictures and videos. If a buyer stays at home, the prices of
thousands of merchants’ products can be compared and the
quality of products can be realized by checking the eval-
uation of other buyers. During the whole process of trad-
ing, the buyers and sellers do not meet each other and
various commercial and trade activities are carried out. In
this way, the electronic, digital and networked trade is
realized.
In the process of shopping, it can be found that there is a
strange phenomenon in all agricultural products. The more
remote the local environment is, the better the quality of
products is. The more natural and guaranteed the products
are, the cheaper the products are. The good products cannot
be sold and the price is quite low, which have become a
Communicated by Mu-Yen Chen.
& Zhitan Feng
2115709912@qq.com
1
School of Commercial, Nantong Institute of Technology,
Nan Tong, China
caused low profits for farmers and hampered their enthu-
siasm for farming and breeding. However, the farming and
breeding environment in big cities is worse. On the con-
trary, the product is more expensive, but there is precisely
no good quality assurance. ‘‘Cannot find, cannot buy, dare
not eat.’’ It has become the three dilemmas of agricultural
consumption. However, with the popularity of the Internet
and the vigorous development of e-commerce, these
problems have been effectively alleviated. At present,
e-commerce in rural China is developing rapidly with the
help of state policies and private enterprises like Taobao.
Rural e-commerce platform cooperates with intensive
rural chain outlets to construct a compact and orderly
business consortium by means of digitalization, informa-
tization, intensive management, market-oriented operation
and systematic cross-regional and cross-industry alliance,
so as to reduce rural commercial costs, expand rural
commercial areas, make farmers become the biggest ben-
eficiaries of the platform and enable businesses to obtain
new profit growth.
Rural e-commerce is booming. This presents a two-way
channel of ‘‘industrial goods going to the countryside’’ and
‘‘agricultural products into the city.’’ Major express
delivery companies have also made strategic arrangements
for the rural express delivery market. Logistics is the third
source of profit for enterprises, and joint distribution is a

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very important part in logistics and transportation (Li et al.
2018). Due to the uneven development between urban and
rural areas, the development of rural logistics infrastructure
is relatively lagging behind. In addition, rural households
are scattered. The logistics volume is small, the no-load
ratio is high, and the management is difficult (Jiao and Yu
2011). This is not conducive to the development of the
logistics industry. Logistics resources are integrated and
scattered goods are accumulated. Modern management is
achieved. The common distribution of goods was carried
out. Distribution speed and service levels between urban
and rural areas have been improved. Economic benefits
have been improved.
So far, the theoretical research on the field of urban joint
distribution is mature. However, there are relatively few
theoretical studies on urban and rural joint distribution. In
particular, the government emphasizes the comprehensive
construction of a well-off society and the promotion of
urban–rural integration (Marchet et al. 2018). Under this
new situation, the construction and development of rural
areas has become a theoretical problem for key research.
China’s rural areas are vast, and the conditions vary greatly
among different provinces and regions. The local charac-
teristics are very obvious, which further increases the dif-
ficulty of research. Xuzhou City is located in the northwest
of Jiangsu Province. Xuzhou has a large agricultural pop-
ulation, a large base, a large variety of agricultural and
sideline products, and distinctive features. More than 20
kinds of agricultural and sideline products such as ginkgo,
Fuji apple and burdock are well known at home and
abroad. The trade in agricultural products has grown
rapidly, and the development momentum is strong. How-
ever, logistics costs are also rising.
Therefore, in order to better solve the problems of small
logistics volume, high no-load rate and difficult manage-
ment, improve transport efficiency, shorten transport time,
reduce transport costs, improve the economic interests of
rural e-commerce and better develop rural economy,
through the analysis of the status quo and existing prob-
lems of the development of the logistics market and urban
and rural joint distribution in Xuzhou City, the causes of
the problems are analyzed. Based on the advanced theory
and experience at home and abroad, the problem of urban
and rural joint distribution has been solved. Joint distri-
bution is realized by taking advantage of the logistics park
distribution mode and the docking mode of agricultural
products and supermarkets. The traffic pressure is relieved.
Environmental pollution and business operating costs have
been reduced. Efficient delivery is achieved to improve
customer satisfaction. The most important thing is to find
an operational model suitable for Xuzhou region through
the analysis and research on the status quo of urban and
rural common distribution development. Therefore, it is of
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Z. Feng
great significance to study the development mode of urban
and rural joint distribution in Xuzhou City, which can bring
huge economic and social benefits.
2 Literature review
Nowadays, more and more farmers and cooperatives leave
the traditional market and directly sell agricultural and
sideline products on the Internet, which greatly enhances
the bargaining power and expands the market. E-commerce
is supposed to solve some of the agricultural circulation
problems. From the perspective of synergy, the impact of
organizational structure on the cold chain logistics of
agricultural products is analyzed. Organizational change
and cold chain technology are key factors in the evolution
of the system (Wang and Polytechnic 2016). The problem
of docking between urban and rural areas was analyzed,
and corresponding countermeasures were proposed (Liu
and Chen 2016). The problem of matching and gathering
goods for the last kilometer of vehicles was discussed, and
countermeasures were proposed (Wang 2016). Based on
the analysis of retail customer data, a method of calculating
the distribution path using the improved ant colony algo-
rithm is proposed. This provides some references for
optimizing the cigarette distribution path (Xin 2016). Li
considered the time dependence of the emergency logistics
network and the complexity of the environment. Dynamic
network theory and robust discrete optimization theory are
combined. A dynamic network optimization model with
robust characteristics is built. On this basis, combined with
the basic theory of ant colony algorithm, the heuristic
factor in the algorithm is improved to adapt to the opti-
mization model. The improved ant colony algorithm is
used to find a path with high timeliness and robustness to
supply urgent transportation (Li et al. 2016).
Huang tried to use the ant colony algorithm to solve the
path problem of the fourth party logistics. First, the discrete
domain ant colony algorithm for 4PL is selected. Based on
the analysis of the 4PL problem, the mathematical model
was created and verified by an example (Huang et al.
2016). Nie studied the long search time and premature
stagnation of the traditional ant colony algorithm. By
introducing the nearest neighbor algorithm and the local
optimal strategy, the system convergence speed and global
search ability are improved (Nie 2016). In order to effec-
tively reduce the transportation cost of food, He proposed
an improved ant colony algorithm to optimize the grain
logistics distribution path. This algorithm improves the
ant’s transfer rules, initializes the pheromone and global
pheromone and adjusts the local update rules by increasing
the information amount of each path (He 2016). Li pro-
posed to improve the traditional ant colony algorithm by
Constructing rural e-commerce logistics model based on ant colony algorithm and artificial…
adopting pheromone update and ant transfer strategy to
solve the problems of sluggish and slow convergence of the
traditional ant colony algorithm (Li 2016). Two improved
ant system-based clustering algorithms are applied to the
dynamic environment of virtual networks, which improves
the stability and running time of the vehicle-free mobile
network clustering algorithm. This has better performance
than other algorithms (Fathian et al. 2015; Farhan et al.
2016). An improved quantum ant colony algorithm opti-
mizes the evacuation path from dangerous area to safe area.
It has the ability to find good solutions faster with fewer
individuals. In addition, the quantum representation and
update of pheromone have strong robustness. This provides
a good idea for subsequent optimization (Liu et al. 2016;
Mei and Xie 2018). Zeng proposed an improved ant colony
algorithm. The algorithm has an infinite step of the opti-
mization path. The traditional ant colony algorithm has the
disadvantages of single step size, easy to fall into local
optimum and poor convergence. The diversity of ant path
selection is improved and the results are further optimized.
At the same time, heuristic information that improves step
priority is improved. This method is widely used (Zeng
et al. 2016). Najafi proposed a multi-objective, multi-mode,
multi-commodity and multi-period stochastic model to
manage the logistics of commodities and injured persons in
earthquake response. In such an emergency, disaster relief
organizations must make effective use of these scarce
resources to achieve the best emergency relief effect (Na-
jafi et al. 2013). Simi introduced vehicle modeling and
optimization in logistics distribution and supply chain
management system by using bionic hybrid methods such
as evolutionary computation, genetic algorithm and ant
colony optimization (Wang 2018). Cook Salhi believed
that the relevant links in the process of logistics distribution
can be reduced, and the distribution center can be used to
send directly to various retail stores to improve the effi-
ciency of distribution (Wu and Lin 2018). Kane considered
that joint distribution has a significant impact on logistics
costs. Building a global supply chain can effectively reduce
the cost of Heze City’s urban–rural joint distribution model
(Lim et al. 2018).
Through the analysis of the development of Xuzhou
logistics market and the current situation and existing
problems of urban–rural joint distribution, the causes of the
problems encountered in rural e-commerce logistics are
analyzed. Through the construction of the model, the
problems of the third-party distribution model are ana-
lyzed. Based on ant colony algorithm, the shortest path and
the shortest cost of logistics are calculated by MATLAB
software. The cost and efficiency under different variables
are analyzed and the model is evaluated. Based on the
advanced theory and experience at home and abroad, the
problem of urban–rural joint distribution has been solved.
The logistics park distribution mode and the docking mode
of agricultural supermarket are used to realize joint dis-
tribution. The traffic pressure has eased. Environmental
pollution and operating costs are reduced. Efficient deliv-
ery can be achieved to improve customer satisfaction. It
can effectively solve the problems encountered in rural
e-commerce logistics.
3 Research methodology
Ant colony algorithm is a probabilistic algorithm used to
find the optimal path in the graph (Liu and Liu 2010; Zhang
et al. 2016). It was proposed by Marco Dorigo in his
doctoral thesis in 1992. The inspiration of this theory
comes from the behavior that ants find the path in the
process of searching for food (Mavrovouniotis and Yang
2015).
Figure 1 shows the foraging process of ants from nest A
to food E. In the absence of obstacles, the ants can forage
directly. When the HC between the ant nest and the food is
separated by an obstacle, ants are faced with two paths to
choose, namely AHE and ACE. The latter path is shorter.
When ants search for food sources, special pheromones can
be released on the way, which will gradually evaporate
over time.
At the initial moment, the pheromone concentration of
both routes is 0, and the probability of ants choosing two
routes is the same. The ants advance at the same speed, but
the ACE circuit is shorter, so the ants reach the food first.
The probability of ants choosing the path is proportional to
the intensity of the material on the path at that time. When
more and more ants pass through a certain path, more and
more pheromone tracks are left behind. Later, the proba-
bility of ants choosing the path is higher, which increases
the pheromone intensity of the path. The stronger pher-
omone will attract more ants, thus forming a positive
feedback mechanism. Through this positive feedback
mechanism, eventually, the entire ant colony will find an
optimal path from the nest to the food source.
In the process of rural e-commerce transaction, the
optimization of distribution vehicle routing is a key link in
the optimization of logistics system. Optimizing the route
of distribution vehicles can improve transportation effi-
ciency, reduce transportation cost and shorten transporta-
tion time.
Replacing vehicles with ants, when the next customer
point to be served will exceed the vehicle’s total load, or
the transportation distance will exceed the maximum
driving distance once, it will return to the distribution
center, indicating that the vehicle has completed the
transportation. The vehicle then starts to serve the rest of
the customers until all customer points have received a
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Fig. 1 Biological revelation of
ant colony algorithm
service, which means that the ants of the vehicle have
completed one cruise. When all ants cruise once, they are
recorded as a cycle. After a cycle, the pheromone incre-
ment is calculated and the pheromone on the relevant path
is updated according to the quality of each ant’s cruise (the
value of the objective function). Finally, the best path can
be found.
The basic principle of ant colony algorithm applied in
logistics system is: At the initial moment, n ants are
assigned to m rural areas. At the same time, the initial area
serial number of ant k is included in the taboo tabuk, which
represents the collection of rural areas that the ant k has
passed. At the beginning, no ants had passed through the
path between each area. Let the pheromone quantity
sij(0) = C, the probability of the ant traveling path i–j is Pkij .
This probability is related to the amount of pheromone.
The greater the amount of pheromone, the greater the
probability of transition.
8  a  b
>
< sij ðtÞ  gij ðtÞ
Pkij ðtÞ ¼ P  a  b ð1Þ
> s ð t Þ  g ð t Þ
: s2allowed k ij ij
0
In the formula, gij represents the expectation of the ant
passing the path i–j. In other words, the longer the distance
between the two places, the less likely the ants will pass. a
indicates the degree of influence of pheromone concen-
tration on ant travel path selection. b is the desired heuristic
factor. For ant k, when all rural areas were included in the
tabuk, the ant completed a tour of all cities. Its path is a
viable solution to the traveling salesman problem. In order
to prevent the information concentration from affecting the
selection of ants with high expectation, the pheromone
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Z. Feng
needs to be updated. After visiting an area, the ants are
updated according to the following formula:
sij ðt þ 1Þ ¼ ð1  qÞ  sij ðtÞ þ Dsij ðt; t þ 1Þ ð2Þ
X
m
Dsij ðt; t þ 1Þ ¼ ðt; t þ 1Þ ð3Þ
k¼1
In the formula, q is the pheromone volatilization factor.
1 - q is the pheromone residual factor, which usually
takes 0 \ q \ 1. Dsij(t,t ? 1) represents the increment of
visiting an i–j pheromone. Dskij ðt; t þ 1Þ represents the
amount of pheromone released by the kth ant on the i–j
path after this visit. There are three rules for updating the
pheromone Dskij ðt; t þ 1Þ, namely the ant quantity system,
the ant density system and the ant cycle system. A large
number of experiments show that the ant cycle system is
superior to the first two update systems in solving travel
problems. The pheromone update rules used in this study
are:

k Q  ð1  r=RÞ If ant k moves from i to j
Dsij ðtÞ ¼
0 otherwise
ð4Þ
In the formula, R represents the number of ants passing
through node i. r represents the number of ants passing
through the directed arc segment (i, j). r/R is called the ant
attraction of the directed arc segment (i, j). Q is a constant
of the amount of information released each time.
The pheromone is updated when the ant completes a
loop. The update formula is:
sij ðt þ nÞ ¼ ð1  qÞ  sij ðtÞ þ Dsij ðtÞ ð5Þ
Constructing rural e-commerce logistics model based on ant colony algorithm and artificial…

X
m supermarkets to use these places as express delivery cen-
Dsij ðtÞ ¼ Dskij ðtÞ ð6Þ ters between villages or streets. After the arrival of express
k¼1
delivery, customers take the express delivery by their own
In order to speed up the convergence, the pheromone is means. Because of the residential characteristics of the
concentrated and the optimal path is strengthened. Only the population in rural areas, when setting distribution points,
optimal path (the path travelled by elite ants) in the cor- they must be located in places convenient for loading and
responding cycle is strengthened. The pheromones on other unloading goods, and not too far from villages and streets.
paths naturally evaporate over time. There is a long distance between villages in the coun-
  tryside, so there should be at least one distribution point in
k Dsij ðtÞ If ant k is an elite ant
Dsij ðtÞ ¼ ð7Þ a village or street.
0 otherwise
 Vehicle travel time, vehicle parking time and customer
 Q0 =L xij ¼ 1 service time of a single order are three major time con-
Dsij ðtÞ ¼ ð8Þ
0 otherwise sumptions in distribution, which can be expressed by
Titavel, Tistop and TiService. Tistop includes the time
When all the ants complete a tour, the taboo table is
spent on the vehicle during the rest of the personnel, the
filled. The ant colony algorithm compares multiple feasible
maintenance of the vehicle in the event of an accident, etc.
solutions and obtains the optimal solution.
TiService includes loading and unloading cargo at desti-
From the results, it can be seen that the mosquito swarm
nation, door-to-door delivery, customer signature, open-
algorithm has better global optimization ability and fast
box inspection, scanning code, input, cargo placement and
efficiency. It is an effective algorithm to solve the problem
other time spent.
of logistics distribution routing optimization. It can shorten
Logistics efficiency is related to logistics cost. The
the transportation distance and time in the physical process,
shorter the delivery time is, the higher the efficiency is and
reduce the service cost of passenger carriers and improve
the lower the cost is. Therefore, if the vehicle is running,
the service quality.
the optimal path can be taken to avoid traffic jams or other
problems. Transportation efficiency will be improved and
costs will be reduced.
4 Experimental design and performance
The ant colony algorithm is used to solve the path
evaluation
optimization problem with time series. Firstly, parameters
in the model are set, and then, objects are selected for
4.1 Model construction
analysis. MATLAB software is used for programming
calculation. The iteration is performed 200 times to gen-
4.1.1 Construction of efficiency model
erate many solutions. Finally, the delivery trajectory is
drawn to find the optimal path. The vehicle constraint
At present, Xuzhou rural areas are more suitable to adopt
conditions are integrated into the objective function, and M
the third-party distribution model. Overall, the biggest
is an infinite number, which is taken as the overload pen-
difficulty with this model is the ‘‘last mile’’ problem,
alty coefficient.
especially in rural areas.
The objective function of delivery of self-collected
Door-to-door delivery means delivering express delivery
goods at fixed locations is:
from merchants to customers. This model requires that
each order can be delivered successfully in the delivery X
R X
nþ1 X
nþ1

process. There is no unexpected event, resulting in delivery Minz ¼ xlkr ðzlkr =V Þ

failure. Otherwise, it will lead to duplicate delivery of
r¼1 l¼0 k¼0 !
XR X
m
express delivery, resulting in reduced work efficiency. þM max Ylr ql  Q; 0 ð9Þ
The cooperative distribution mode of convenience stores r¼1 l¼1
is that express companies set up distribution points in a The intermediate formula is consistent with formulas
range of convenience stores. Customers can take their own (11)–(18).
express delivery after the mail arrives at the convenience
store. At the same time, they can also conveniently shop, Fl  TRated working time ð10Þ
which will increase the turnover of the convenience store. In the cooperative distribution process of convenience
Therefore, the convenience store is willing to cooperate stores, Ti travel, is relatively complex. Small supermarkets
with the express company in this way. or convenience stores in small towns have relatively free
The post office’s fixed-point self-service means that the choice of service scope. As long as the distribution point in
post office cooperates with convenience stores or small the range of customer acceptance, service can be carried

123

out, and the number of each receipt and delivery of goods
is relatively large. This distribution mode is similar to
cluster analysis. Of course, there are many other influenc-
ing factors in this model, including site selection, envi-
ronment, etc., which are ignored.
Among them, the objective function is:
Xm
minjul  hk j2 ð11Þ
l¼1
The constraint conditions are:
1 X
u¼ u ð12Þ
jGl j u2Gl
j X
X paths can be found depending on the number and location
E¼ uju  uj2 ð13Þ
l¼1 u2Gl
ul indicates the delivery point location. hk represents the
average value of cluster Gl. E represents the sum of the
average errors. In addition, different factors under different
modes are considered from different perspectives. If factors
such as the number of devices are taken into account as
intermediate variables, the model is shown in the following
formula:
qtk =mk  TRated ð14Þ
4.2 Model solving
4.2.1 Overview of the model
Here, Pizhou City was analyzed. There are 21 towns in four
streets in Pizhou City, and the number is relatively large.
The Tiefu town with superior location was selected as
examples for analysis. Tiefu town is located in the north of
Pizhou City. It is a national key town and has 30 admin-
istrative villages under its jurisdiction. The town covers an
area of 127.92 km and has a population of 102,000. Among
them, several administrative villages were randomly
selected as samples for research, such as Zhoulou, Shiz-
huang, Goushang and Hutan. In this case, the selected
delivery locations are mainly the administrative villages—
Tiefu Town–Pizhou City–Xuzhou. Pizhou City–Xuzhou
this section belongs to the second-level joint distribution.
The distance is 72 km. The distance from the Tiefu to
Pizhou City is 20 km. The distribution situation from each
village to the end of Tiefu town was mainly analyzed.
4.2.2 Solution of optimal path
Due to different factors and constraints, different delivery
paths are often adopted. Vehicle, personnel and commis-
sion factors can make a significant difference in cost and
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Z. Feng
efficiency. It is assumed that the ‘‘door-to-door delivery’’
distribution mode only takes one car to all 30 villages. The
shortest route to pick up the goods is 61.06 km. The path is
Xiangdun–Lianhou–Lianqian–Bandian–Aishanhou–Ais-
hanxi–Dadun–Zhangzhuan–Gaojia–Wuyan–Mitan–Zhou-
lou–Yucai–Zhengzhong–Beiyaozhuang–Zhuhongbu–Shiz-
huang–Yujia–Lvluojia–Hutan–Songzhuang–Tiefosi–Yo-
ufang–Goushang–Xiangshuiliu–Nanfengchang–Xiaoying–
Sihe–Tienan–Jiangou–Xiangdun.
The distribution efficiency, distribution trajectory and
fluctuation of post office distribution and home delivery
distribution are closely related to the number and location
of selected cooperation points. Different trajectories and
selected. Therefore, 30 villages were clustered and divided
into four categories. They are Line 1, Line 2, Line 3 and
Line 4. Each type selects a convenience store in the village
as a logistics node, and MATLAB is used to calculate the
shortest path. As a result, the shortest path is determined.
The motion trajectory and path of the fixed cooperation
point are basically the same, and the cost is different. The
shortest paths for the four types of delivery routes are:
Line 1: Zhangzhuang–Gaojia–Wuyan–Bandian–Aishan-
hou–Aishanqian–Dadun. The shortest distance is 17.83 km.
Line 2: Youfang–Goushang–Xiaoying–Nanfengchang–
Tienan–Xiangshuiliu–Jiangou–Sihe. The shortest distance
is 18.71 km.
Line 3: Beiyaozhuang–Zhenzhong–Xiangdun–Songz-
huang–Lianhou–Tiefosi–Lianqian. The shortest distance is
17.36 km.
Line 4: Mitan–Yujia–Shizhuang–Lvluojia–Zhangz-
huang–Yucai–Hutan. The shortest distance is 16.68 km.
In the delivery mode, the sum of the shortest distances
of the four lines is 70.58 km. Here, the distance between
one route termination point and the other route start point is
ignored in the route distance calculation. The post office
distribution mode and the collection from domicile distri-
bution mode were compared. If every village is visited, the
efficiency of picking up goods in single bike is higher. If
the delivery personnel and vehicles are not constrained, the
efficiency will be higher than the door-to-door delivery. In
fact, the door-to-door delivery and post office only need to
send the goods to the shortest distance from the distribution
point in the four lines (Figs. 2, 3).
Fixed-site distribution modes such as post offices are
between home delivery and convenience store delivery.
This depends on the number of fixed points in the post
office within the region. If a post office is chosen as a
partner in the town, the optimal route is the distance
between Xuzhou and the main road in the town. If multiple
fixed locations are selected, the distribution mode is similar
to that of the convenience store, and will not be described
here.
Constructing rural e-commerce logistics model based on ant colony algorithm and artificial…

Fig. 2 Thirty villages, the

shortest distance

Fig. 3 Analysis chart of total 5000

cost
4500
4000
Door-to-door delivery
3500
3000 convenience store
Cost

2500 cooperation
2000 post office fixed point
1500 self-pick-up

1000
500
0
0

100

200

300

400

500

600

700

800

900

1000

1100
Order quantity

4.2.3 Efficiency analysis model. The cost of door-to-door delivery is composed of

The distance between Xuzhou–Pizhou City–Tiefu Town is
72 km and 20 km, respectively. The parameters of the
three terminal distribution modes are set as follows: The
cargo load is 2000 kg, the average speed V is 70 km/h, and
the average stopping time w is 4 min. The efficiency of the
three modes can be obtained through calculation, as given
in Table 1.
From Table 1, it can be seen that, though people have
the lowest satisfaction and loyalty to fixed-point distribu-
tion of post offices delivery model, it is the most efficient
distribution model. The cost of ‘‘door-to-door delivery’’
distribution is high, but it is one of the most satisfactory
distribution methods for people. ‘‘Convenience store
cooperation’’ distribution mode is a mode between the two,
which has both advantages and disadvantages.
4.2.4 Cost analysis
The optimal path has been calculated. The cost of the three
delivery methods can be calculated based on the cost
fixed costs, variable vehicle costs and courier fees per
order. ‘‘Convenience store cooperation’’ and ‘‘post office
fixed-point self-pickup’’ need to add the third-party coop-
eration payment fee; the third-party cooperation fee of the
post office fixed-point distribution is mainly commission;
and the commission is based on the weight of the goods or
the quantity of the order. In the calculation process of the
model, it is assumed that the cost of each vehicle is 100
yuan, and the withdrawal of door-to-door delivery is 3
yuan/order (the other 1.5 yuan/order), each order is 30 kg,
and the fixed cost is 500 yuan. The post office delivers a
third-party fee increase according to the weight. It is
assumed that the post office will send a basic fee of 800
yuan, and the cost per additional 100 will increase by 50
yuan.
As can be seen from the figure, when the order quantity
is less than 200, i.e., the carrying weight of the order is less
than 6000 kg, it is suitable for door-to-door delivery. The
initial cost of ‘‘convenience store cooperation’’ distribution
has relatively little increase. With the increase in freight
volume, ‘‘home delivery’’ costs more than ‘‘post office

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 Z. Feng

Table 1 Comparison of the efficiency of the three modes 5 Discussion

Door-to-door Postal Third-party
delivery fixed-point cooperation The data model was built for the problems in the Xuzhou
distribution in area. Ant colony algorithm is used to find the optimal
convenience
distribution path. Finally, MATLAB software is used to
stores
solve and analyze. The graph is drawn. The cost and effi-
Driving distance (km) 98.2 61.7 83.8 ciency of the three methods of door-to-door delivery,
Order (order) 200 200 200 convenience store cooperation and post office fixed-point
Parking and starting 35 35 25 self-collection are analyzed. According to the reality, under
time (min) the influence of two variables, the trend change graph of
Number of vehicles 5 3 3 the cost of the distribution model is obtained. The ‘‘last
(vehicles)
mile’’ was resolved in the third-party distribution mode.
Driving time (min) 83.93 65.7 71.6
For the joint urban and rural distribution model in
Parking time (min) 35 35 35 Xuzhou, in order to develop the third-party logistics dis-
Service time (min) 1800 450 1200 tribution model, the regional development characteristics
Buffer time (min) 25 25 25 and development status were investigated to ensure the
Total time (min) 2178.9 810.7 1556.6 healthy and orderly development of urban and rural joint
Each time spent (min) 10.89 4.05 7.78 distribution in Xuzhou (Dai et al. 2015; Zhou and Wang
2017). For the development of third-party logistics distri-
fixed-point self-pickup’’ mode and convenience store bution enterprises, the construction of logistics infrastruc-
cooperative distribution mode. This is because when the ture, informatization and logistics technology and
freight volume is small, it is more expensive to pay to third equipment are important components to ensure the steady
parties and commissions. With the increase in freight development of Xuzhou third-party logistics enterprises
volume, this part of cost is shared equally and gradually (Cai and Xu 2016; Ma et al. 2019; Khorram and Yazdi
less than the total cost of delivery. The more the freight, the 2019. Logistics infrastructure is an important guarantee for
lower the cost. However, the total cost is gradually service logistics activities, which can effectively improve
increasing. the efficiency of logistics operations and improve the
In addition, two variables or several variables in real life competitiveness of the logistics market. The construction
are interrelated. For example, if the freight volume of roads and railways has been strengthened to build a
increases, in order to ensure efficiency, the number of three-dimensional transportation system in Xuzhou.
vehicles dispatched will increase accordingly, and the Different regions have different levels of economic
cargo volume will increase. The commission will be development, locations and key development industries,
reduced accordingly and the cost will change. If the com- especially in rural areas with scattered locations and
mission is 3 yuan, through the previous efficiency analysis imperfect logistics facilities (Zhang et al. 2019). Rich
and cost calculation, it can be calculated that there is no agricultural resources are the core advantage of Xuzhou
‘‘higher efficiency and higher cost’’ in the end distribution City. The development status of urban and rural joint dis-
process. When the order quantity is less than 200 and the tribution in Xuzhou City has been deeply studied, and
carrying weight is less than 6000 kg, ‘‘door-to-door model selection has been made. Finally, a distribution
delivery’’ distribution method is selected. When the num- model suitable for Xuzhou City was found. However, when
ber of orders increases, the cost advantages of ‘‘conve- constructing models and analyzing data, there are many
nience store cooperation’’ distribution and ‘‘post office constraints on model construction. The reality cannot be
fixed-point self-pickup’’ distribution gradually appear. The fully reflected, which needs to be further supplemented and
cost of ‘‘convenience store cooperation’’ distribution mode enriched.
increases faster than that of ‘‘post office fixed-point self-
pickup’’ distribution mode. When the order quantity
exceeds a certain limit, the cost advantage of ‘‘post office 6 Conclusions
fixed-point self-pickup’’ distribution mode is gradually
higher than that of ‘‘door-to-door delivery’’ distribution Ant colony algorithm does not require the initial route, that
mode. When making choices, it is necessary to adapt to is to say, the solution result of ant colony algorithm does
local conditions according to the actual situation. not depend on the choice of sub-initial route, and it does
not need to be adjusted manually in the search process.
Secondly, the ant colony algorithm has fewer parameters

123
Constructing rural e-commerce logistics model based on ant colony algorithm and artificial…
and is easy to set up, so it is easy to apply the ant colony
algorithm to other combinatorial optimization problems.
Therefore, ant colony algorithm is widely used and studied
by the researchers at home and abroad.
Xu Xiangyang and Wu Zehua applied ant colony algo-
rithm to the path planning problem of fire emergency res-
cue and put forward an analysis model of optimal path
planning for fire emergency based on improved ant colony
algorithm. Based on the actual road network data, the
model constructs a simulated dynamic road model through
the network dataset. However, in the dynamic real-time
network model, due to the complex and changeable road
conditions, the classical ant colony algorithm cannot
achieve the effect of optimal path analysis. In addition, in
order to improve the efficiency of the ant colony algorithm
and speed up its convergence, pheromone factor is added to
optimize the ant colony algorithm. The experimental
results show that the optimized ant colony algorithm can
improve the efficiency of the algorithm on the basis of
finding the optimal path.
In order to improve the convergence speed and accuracy
of robot path planning algorithm, Wang Zhi proposed a
robot path planning method based on improved genetic
algorithm. The method of grid modeling is introduced, and
the principle of traditional ant colony algorithm is ana-
lyzed. The ant encounter strategy is proposed to improve
the search efficiency of the algorithm. The ant regression
strategy is proposed to avoid falling into U-shaped trap.
The pheromone induction appendix is set to expand the
search range in the early stage of the algorithm. The
pheromone residue method is improved to enable the ant
colony to remember the optimal path. An adaptive pher-
omone adjustment method is proposed, which takes into
account the large-scale search in the early stage of the
algorithm and the fast convergence in the later stage.
Compared with the traditional ant colony algorithm, the
improved algorithm has faster convergence speed and
better planning results, and the ant colony trajectory of the
improved algorithm is more concentrated near the optimal
solution.
In this study, taking Xuzhou fruit and vegetable agri-
cultural products as the key research object, 30 villages
under Xuzhou municipal jurisdiction are selected, and the
third-party distribution model is used as the logistics
method. Through the construction of cost-efficiency model,
the feasibility of the model is verified by empirical and data
simulation, and the problems of the third-party distribution
model are analyzed. Based on ant colony algorithm, the
shortest path and the shortest cost are calculated by
MATLAB software. The cost and efficiency under differ-
ent variables are analyzed and the model is evaluated.
Based on the characteristics of Xuzhou City, a third-party
distribution model is selected, which is suitable for the
current development of Xuzhou City. The ‘‘last mile’’
problem of the third-party distribution model is solved.
This model reduces overall operating costs and increases
logistics revenue. The fixed assets input, personnel occu-
pation and management risk in rural areas are effectively
reduced. This is conducive to the distribution of outlets in
rural areas. After the rural e-commerce consumer market
matures, this logistics model gains the market leading
position.
However, there are still some limitations in this
research. Firstly, since things continue to develop and the
market changes constantly, no model can be applied for a
long time. In addition, only the rural areas of Xuzhou are
chosen as the research object. In the rural areas of other
provinces and cities in China, the geomorphology and
topography are not exactly the same as Xuzhou. Therefore,
the logistics distribution model studied here may not be
applicable to all rural areas in China. Later, the research
object will be adjusted, and more provinces and cities in
rural areas logistics distribution will be studied, hoping to
make more contributions to the development of rural
e-commerce in China.
Acknowledgement This project was supported by the First Level Key
Built Discipline Projects of the Business Administration under
Jiangsu Provincial ‘‘the 13th Five-Year Plan’’ (project number:
SJY201609).
Compliance with ethical standards
Conflict of interest All authors declare that they have no conflict of
interest.
Ethical approval This article does not contain any studies with human
participants or animals performed by any of the authors.
Informed consent Informed consent was obtained from all individual
participants included in the study.
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