## 2 Materials and Methods  
A pick-up point is a location where customers can select where they would like to pick up their orders. Known by another name, \"out-of-home delivery\", this service offers greater flexibility than \"home delivery\" as the final receivers may select the pickup place based on their schedules and convenience, thus providing diversity, flexibility, cost and time savings, and failsafe delivery [15]. There are different kinds of PUPs provided though the same service: (a) click and collect; (b) parcel lockers; and (c) retail shops/collection points. All these PUPs serve the same idea: a place where the carrier can leave the package and the customer/user can pick it up whenever he/she wants to or can. Throughout the international literature, PUPs have been examined according to different aspects, as presented in Table 2. However, most of the examined references agree that the increase in e-commerce has been the main reason for the increased popularity and usage of PUPs. In February 2024, a report [34] was published regarding digital commerce, of which e-commerce is a subset, in Greece. It underlines that, during the period of 2018-2022, the number of Greek companies employing ten or more employees and providing e-commerce services increased by 50%. According to the International Trade Administration [35], which uses data from the Hellenic Statistical Authority (ELSTAT), during the period of 2017-2022, the total e-commerce in Greece increased by 76% (from USD 5.5 billion to USD 22.55 billion). Furthermore, based on reports from EUROSTAT and ELSTAT for the year 2022, _\"83% of Greeks are Internet users and 69% are online shoppers and 7% of consumers make at least one purchase per quarter and 38% make six or more times\"_. It is quite evident based on the above that e-commerce in Greece has undergone a significant transformation without reaching its peak yet, as it is still developing, even on a weekly basis [36]. According to data from EUROSTAT [37], the percentage of internet users who bought or ordered goods or services for private use increased from 40.12% for the year 2013 to 68.52% for the year 2021, and then slightly decreased to 66.72% for the year 2023. During 2023, 73.55% of the people who had purchased online in the last 3 months purchased clothes, shoes, or accessories [37], \begin{table}
\begin{tabular}{c c} \hline \hline
**Topic** & **Reference** \\ \hline Pick-up Point Recommendation & [16; 17; 18; 19; 20] \\ Consumer Behavior Regarding Pick-up Points & [21; 22; 23] \\ Pick-up Point Location and Optimization & [18; 24; 25; 26] \\ Pick-up Point Service Quality & [27; 28; 29; 30] \\ Pick-up Point Lockers & [31; 32; 33] \\ \hline \hline \end{tabular}
\end{table} 
Table 2: Recent (last 5 years) literature review related to PUPs. items that can easily be picked up from PUPs. Consumers become a key component in the transformation of the city logistics sector in the post-pandemic era, playing a major role in addressing the last-mile challenges and developing a more sustainable e-commerce business [38]. One of the main issues arising from the increase in e-commerce and the necessary changes and adjustments it brings to the city logistics sector concerns how satisfied consumers are by the level of the provided services. In this framework, the authors of the present paper implemented an online questionnaire-based poll addressed to the students and research, teaching, and administrative staff of AUTh. The poll was implemented in November 2023, resulting in 1332 filled-out questionnaires, of which 1117 were complete and analyzable. The analysis of the collected data concerns a descriptive statistical analysis as well as an in-depth statistical analysis. The platform used for the specific poll ensured the anonymity of the participants as well as the fact that their IP (Internet Protocol) addresses were not recorded. The questionnaire developed specifically for the purpose of this research was divided into two sections.