This CEO may have found a solution to retailers' last mile dilemma

Online shopping is "here to stay" and "there's a real opportunity for us to parlay this and become the last-mile delivery answer," Ball said in an interview in Stockholm

An executive running Nordic shopping malls says he may have solved a problem that’s gnawed at online retailers for years, namely how to slash delivery costs for the “last mile” before a product reaches its buyer.

Citycon Oyj, which operates 40 malls across the Nordic countries and Estonia, is building a click-and-collect service that would allow consumers to shop the full array of a mall’s offerings on the web and pick up the goods from a convenient location, according to Chief Executive Officer F. Scott Ball.

Online shopping is “here to stay” and “there’s a real opportunity for us to parlay this