INVENTORY RATIONING AND SHIPMENT FLEXIBILITY ALTERNATIVES FOR DIRECT MARKET FIRMS

This paper investigates inventory‐rationing policies of interest to firms operating in a direct market channel. We model a single product with two demand classes, where one class requests a lower order fulfillment lead time but pays a higher price. Demand for each class follows a Poisson process. Inventory is fed by a production system with exponentially distributed build times. We study rationing policies in which the firm either blocks or backlogs orders for the lower priority customers when inventory drops below a certain level. We compare the performance of these rationing policies with a pure first‐come, first‐serve policy under various scenarios for customer response to delay: lost sales, backlog, and a combination of lost sales and backlog.     

Shelf Loathing: Cross Docking at an Online Retailer

Online customers expect to wait, sometimes for a delay of many days. At the fulfillment center, there might be an opportunity to fill customer orders earlier than the due date through a cross‐docking transaction: rather than picking the item from inventory, the item moves directly from the receiving to the shipping dock, saving shelving and picking transactions. While cross docking reduces shelving and picking costs, it risks changing customer expectations for how soon a product will be delivered. Given customer order arrivals random in quantity and due dates, random replenishment arrivals, and costs (or benefits) for shipping a product early, we characterize the optimal decision as to whether to cross dock a replenishment item to fulfill demand that is not immediately due or to wait to (hopefully) cross dock in later periods. With multiple demands and due dates, the cross‐docking decision depends on the number of unfulfilled demands in each period across the horizon, the number of units that have just arrived (available for cross docking), picking and shelving costs, and the delay cost (or benefit). We formulate the problem as a Markov decision process, determine the structure of the optimal policy, and propose a well‐performing heuristic.     

Impact of customer loyalty and service operations on customer behaviour and firm performance: empirical evidence from UK retail sector

Abstract

Retail networks are striving to achieve competitive advantage by increasing value through loyalty and efficiency with a focus on service operations. As sales promotions have become an integral part of the retail supply chain planning, customer behavioural aspects based on loyalty and service operations have been challenged greatly. Subsequently, management capabilities, such as planning and timely replenishment, have become complicated tasks for many retail store managers. This study develops a model integrating retail network value and efficiencies with customer behaviour and performance. We validate the model using survey data from prominent U.K. retail store customers. Our data analysis shows that both loyalty and service operation attributes have positive significant impact on customer behaviour, while the service operation mediates the relationship between loyalty and customer behaviour. This result gives a new outlook to build managerial capability based on customer loyalty and service operations. Our results specifically show that the service operation attributes will indirectly influence the customers’ buying behaviour even in the presence of loyalty attribute such as promotion schemes. This result sends a strong signal to retail supply chain managers to offer customised promotions considering local community rather than having uniform sales promotion nationwide.     

网上交易服务质量四维度对顾客满意及忠诚度影响的实证分析

一般研究认为,网上购物的忠诚度比传统行业低。究其原因,除了产品本身的质量因素外,网上交易的服务质量也是一个非常关键的因素。本文基于Parasuraman的E-S-QUAL量表将网上交易服务质量从有效性、履约性、系统可用性和私密性四个维度来进行分析。在此基础上,采用了基于PLS统计分析方法的结构方程模型,探索网上交易服务质量四维度对顾客满意及服务忠诚度的影响情况。本研究很好地揭示中国消费者特殊的网上交易心理与行为,研究成果对网络销售企业具有一定参考价值。     

Optimal Control of Replenishment and Substitution in an Inventory System with Nonstationary Batch Demand

We study an inventory system in which a supplier supplies demand using two mutually substitutable products over a selling season of T periods, with a single replenishment opportunity at the beginning of the season. As the season starts, customer orders arrive in each period, for either type of products, following a nonstationary Poisson process with random batch sizes. The substitution model we consider combines the usual supplier‐driven and customer‐driven schemes, in that the supplier may choose to offer substitution, at a discount price, or may choose not to; whereas the customer may or may not accept the substitution when it is offered. The supplier's decisions are the supply and substitution rules in each period throughout the season, and the replenishment quantities for both products at the beginning of the season. With a stochastic dynamic programming formulation, we first prove the concavity of the value function, which facilitates the solution to the optimal replenishment quantities. We then show that the optimal substitution follows a threshold rule, and establish the monotonicity of the thresholds over time and with respect to key cost parameters. We also propose a heuristic exhaustive policy, and illustrate its performance through numerical examples.     

On the benefits of operational flexibility in a distribution network with transshipment

We consider a centralized distribution network with multiple retailers who receive replenishment inventory to satisfy customer demand of the local markets. The operational flexibility of the network is defined as the opportunity that one retailer's excess inventory can be transferred to satisfy other retailers’ unmet customer demand due to stock-outs. A general modeling framework is developed to optimize retailers’ order quantities under any possible flexibility level of a stylized two-stage distribution network. We apply the framework to formulate and solve the transshipment problem of a distribution network with three retailers. Six typical flexibility levels are investigated to make the comparison study on the firm's profit performance under three ordering quantity policies: average demand, newsvendor order quantity, and optimal order quantity. We find that the operational flexibility and system optimization are complements to the firm's performance. The ordering policy with newsvendor ordering quantity can perform fairly well with moderate flexibility level when compared with the optimized ordering policy with full flexibility.     

Inventory Management for Customers with Alternative Lead Times

It is common for suppliers operating in batch‐production mode to deal with patient and impatient customers. This paper considers inventory models in which a supplier provides alternative lead times to its customers: a short or a long lead time. Orders from patient customers can be taken by the supplier and included in the next production cycle, while orders from impatient customers have to be satisfied from the on‐hand inventory. We denote the action to commit one unit of on‐hand inventory to patient or impatient customers as the inventory‐commitment decision, and the initial inventory stocking as the inventory‐replenishment decision. We first characterize the optimal inventory‐commitment policy as a threshold type, and then prove that the optimal inventory‐replenishment policy is a base‐stock type. Then, we extend our analysis to models to consider cases of a multi‐cycle setting, a supply‐capacity constraint, and the on‐line charged inventory‐holding cost. We also evaluate and compare the performances of the optimal inventory‐commitment policy and the inventory‐rationing policy. Finally, to further investigate the benefits and pitfalls of introducing an alternative lead‐time choice, we use the customer‐choice model to study the demand gains and losses, known as demand‐induction and demand‐cannibalization effects, respectively.     

Impact of Value‐Added Service Features in e‐Retailing Processes: An Econometric Analysis of Web Site Functions

We examine the impact of three classes of Web site functions (foundational, customer‐centered, and value‐added) upon e‐retailer performance. Using secondary panel data for 2007–2009 on operating characteristics of over 600 e‐retailers, our econometric analysis finds that only the value‐added service functions are positively associated with changes in e‐retail sales revenues across time. We also observe a decreasing marginal impact of deploying additional value‐added service features. To account for possible alternate explanations, we control for firm‐ and time‐specific fixed effects, merchant types, merchandise categories, and order fulfillment strategies. By further decomposing e‐retail sales revenues into Web site traffic, conversion rate, and average order value, we find that Web site functions affect e‐retail sales revenues mainly through their impact on Web site traffic. Our investigation demonstrates the empirical research usefulness of the Voss conceptual e‐service sand cone model. Our results identify for managers where to focus ongoing e‐retailing system development efforts, yet suggest that focusing too many retailing capabilities on exploratory and experimental value‐added service features may backfire, potentially leading to worsening e‐retailer performance.     

Sales Force and Competition in Financial Product Markets: The Case of Mexico's Social Security Privatization

This paper examines how sales force impacts competition and equilibrium prices in the context of a privatized pension market. We use detailed administrative data on fund manager choices and worker characteristics at the inception of Mexico's privatized social security system, where fund managers had to set prices (management fees) at the national level, but could select sales force levels by local geographic areas. We develop and estimate a model of fund manager choice where sales force can increase or decrease customer price sensitivity. We find exposure to sales force lowered price sensitivity, leading to inelastic demand and high equilibrium fees. We simulate oft proposed policy solutions: a supply‐side policy with a competitive government player and a demand‐side policy that increases price elasticity. We find that demand‐side policies are necessary to foster competition in social safety net markets with large segments of inelastic consumers.     

Newsvendor Pricing Problem in a Two‐Sided Market

We study the pricing problem of a “platform” intermediary to jointly determine the selling price of the platforms (hardware) sold to consumers and the royalty charged to content developers for content (software), when the demands for content and for platforms are interdependent. Our model elucidates the impact of supply chain replenishment costs and demand uncertainty on the strategic issues of platform pricing in a two‐sided market.     

顾客体验之于新产品供应链协调的影响

新产品引入市场时,其内在价值很难判断,顾客体验能够降低其接受产品的风险.研究了外生体验与内生体验对供应链协调的影响.考虑了销售补偿合同与回购合同,其中,销售补偿合同是供应商对销售商已销售的产品给予补偿,而回购合同是对未销售的产品进行补偿.结论表明,提升外生体验,即顾客收到的噪声信号质量较高,销售商能制定更高的销售价格,...     

碳排放影响下的动态配送车辆路径优化研究

本文考虑碳排放对动态配送车辆路径的影响,研究了客户需求点增减、客户需求量变化及配送路线交通中断三种情形下的配送车辆路径优化问题。首先,通过构建虚拟客户点,将动态车辆路径优化问题转化为静态车辆路径优化问题。其次,构建了基于改进遗传算法的动态车辆路径优化模型。最后,对比分析了考虑碳排放影响前后的动态车辆路径优化。研究结果表明：在满足时间窗要求的情况下,虽然考虑碳排放的动态车辆路径的总行驶距离增加了3.59 km,但碳排放成本和总配送成本分别下降了7.45%和1%;同时与静态车辆路径相比,在动态车辆路径问题中考虑碳排放可以使碳排放成本及总配送成本下降的更多,因此在动态车辆路径问题中考虑碳排放更具有价值意义。     

A Prompting Procedure for Increasing Sales in a Small Pet Store

Abstract

A simple prompting procedure involving index cards was used to increase suggestive selling by the owner/operator of a small pet grooming business. Over a year of baseline data revealed that no sales prompts were given and few pet products were sold. When the owner was prompted by an index card to ask customers if they wanted to purchase pet products, sales tripled and increased four-fold by the end of the year. This study is part of an increasing interest in the behavioral analysis of consumer choice and addresses both management and marketing concerns by demonstrating how a simple, well-replicated prompting procedure can modify a key employee behavior that in turn changes customer behavior, and results in an important organizational outcome.     

基于顾客需求偏好的面向无人零售终端的供应链资源整合优化研究

面向新零售的无人零售终端所关注的焦点是如何为顾客提供满意的购物体验。目前,无人零售终端在提供服务时较多关注不同场景下顾客对商品类型的需求,而往往忽略价格、品质和终端操作便捷性等其他差异化的需求。而无人零售的无人值守、需要灵活补货和配货等特点,决定了其在提供差异化服务时,离不开供应链网络的有效支撑,这就需要对供应链网络中的各类资源进行合理整合。本文在分析不同场景下顾客需求偏好的基础上,重点探讨了面向无人零售终端资源整合中的供应链成员筛选机理,有针对性地提出了关键因素的挖掘和分类方法。在此基础上,构建了对应的整合优化模型和求解算法,并通过算例验证了方法和算法的可行性、有效性与可操作性。     

A Dynamic Model of Product Quality and Pricing Decisions on Sales Response

This paper presents a dynamic model that examines the influence of price and customer perception of product quality on the sales rate of a firm producing durable goods. The sales rate of the firm is modeled as a function of its price, average product life, perceived quality, and market potential. Specifically, the model considers: (1) the process by which perceived quality is determined by including the effects of the average life of a product and quality weighted units in the market; (2) the time delay in the influence of actual quality on perceived quality; (3) the process by which demand (i.e., potential sales) is converted to realized sales due to the effects of price and perceived quality; and (4) the saturation effect and associated non-linearity in the demand function. The model presented is a reformulation and extension of the model originally proposed by Bass [2]. The validity of the model is tested using historical data on For Mustang.     

基于品类管理和需求外生模型的医药电商网页空间优化策略

网页空间优化对电子商务企业的绩效有着显著影响。本文结合医药品的特性，利用需求外生模型从品类管理的角度研究医药电商的网页空间优化问题，即有限网页空间内的内容优化与内容布局优化。考虑存在商品缺货以及蚕食效应的情况下，本文首先基于需求外生模型使用极大似然估计法估计了商品市场份额与商品替代率，然后提出最大市场份额指标并构建了一个加权最大市场份额最大化的整数规划模型来优化医药电商网页的内容与内容布局。通过对中国知名医药电商1药网2015年8月1日到10月31日的乙肝类抗病毒药物专栏的销售数据进行实证分析，结果表明，本模型优化的推送内容和布局顺序可以有效提高1药网各药品专栏最高至27.21%的销量，乙肝其他抗病药物专栏可以提高8.06%。研究表明，本文提出的基于最大市场份额最大化的优化模型能有效决策网页空间优化来提高医药电商的销量与市场占有率。     

融合内容分析和关联分析的短生命周期体验品需求特征模式挖掘方法研究

挖掘特定产品的需求模式无法从整体掌握该类产品的市场特征;短生命周期体验品因缺乏历史销售数据,并且销售总量波动性极大,尤其需要从整体掌握销售总量与产品属性间关系的需求特征规律,但又难以挖掘,亟待提出适用于该类产品的需求特征模式挖掘方法。基于按销售总量分区后各区的需求特征的规律性,提出了一种按销售总量分区、以已有产品介绍集和销售总量为源信息、适用于新产品开发前使用、融合内容分析和关联分析的短生命周期体验品需求特征模式挖掘方法。该方法包括基于内容分析法的产品属性挖掘方法和基于关联分析的产品属性关系模式挖掘方法。前者可以得到较全面的产品属性;后者能够构建不同销售总量区间内产品集的属性关系模式,得到各区间的产品属性关系网,获得高销售总量区间具备,但中、低区间不具备的属性关系模式,从而获得需求特征模式。通过不断更新产品介绍集和销售总量并迭代挖掘,该方法能够动态挖掘需求特征模式。最后利用2013至2016年国产犯罪和爱情类电影数据验证了该方法的可行性,并得到了这两类电影的产品属性及近年的需求特征模式,可用于指导这两类电影的创作。     

Measuring the Implications of Sales and Consumer Inventory Behavior

Temporary price reductions (sales) are common for many goods and naturally result in large increases in the quantity sold. Demand estimation based on temporary price reductions may mismeasure the long‐run responsiveness to prices. In this paper we quantify the extent of the problem and assess its economic implications. We structurally estimate a dynamic model of consumer choice using two years of scanner data on the purchasing behavior of a panel of households. The results suggest that static demand estimates, which neglect dynamics, (i) overestimate own‐price elasticities by 30 percent, (ii) underestimate cross‐price elasticities by up to a factor of 5, and (iii) overestimate the substitution to the no‐purchase or outside option by over 200 percent. This suggests that policy analysis based on static elasticity estimates will underestimate price–cost margins and underpredict the effects of mergers.     

Coordinated Contract Decisions in a Make‐to‐Order Manufacturing Supply Chain: A Stochastic Programming Approach

One of the important objectives of supply chain S&OP (Sales and Operations Planning) is the profitable alignment of customer demand with supply chain capabilities through the coordinated planning of sales, production, distribution, and procurement. In the make‐to‐order manufacturing context considered in this paper, sales plans cover both contract and spot sales, and procurement plans require the selection of supplier contracts. S&OP decisions also involve the allocation of capacity to support sales plans. This article studies the coordinated contract selection and capacity allocation problem, in a three‐tier manufacturing supply chain, with the objective to maximize the manufacturer's profitability. Using a modeling approach based on stochastic programming with recourse, we show how these S&OP decisions can be made taking into account economic, market, supply, and system uncertainties. The research is based on a real business case in the Oriented Strand Board (OSB) industry. The computational results show that the proposed approach provides realistic and robust solutions. For the case considered, the planning method elaborated yields significant performance improvements over the solutions obtained from the mixed integer programming model previously suggested for S&OP.     

Supplier Encroachment as an Enhancement or a Hindrance to Nonlinear Pricing

The objective of this study was to extend existing understanding of supplier encroachment to contexts in which there is information asymmetry and the supplier can use nonlinear pricing. Prior research has shown that supplier encroachment can mitigate double marginalization and thus benefit both the supplier and the reseller. However, under symmetric information, this benefit disappears if the supplier can use nonlinear pricing. In our model, the reseller observes the true market size while the supplier knows only the prior distribution, that is, a seemingly ideal setting for implementing mechanism design through nonlinear pricing. We first show that, because encroachment capability enables the supplier to make an ex post output decision, it fundamentally alters the structure of the optimal nonlinear pricing policy. In addition to the usual downward distortion effect, where the reseller may purchase less than the efficient quantity, we also have the possibility for upward distortion. Thus, under asymmetric information and nonlinear pricing, supplier encroachment has two opposing effects. On one hand, the ability to shift sales to the direct channel allows the supplier to reduce information rents with less sacrifice of efficiency; but on the other hand, by introducing the possibility of her own opportunistic behavior, it can result in upward distortion of the quantities sold through the reselling channel, which is a new source of inefficiency. Depending upon the relative efficiency of the reselling channel and the demand distribution, either of these two effects may dominate and the supplier's ability to encroach may either benefit or hurt both the supplier and the reseller.