Retail operations

We will mainly focus on food and general merchandise (e.g. fashion) retailers. The following topics will be covered:

• Introduction to the world of retailing: the Dutch environment, the major international players, research opportunities in retailing
• Analyzing retail demand using POS taking into account issues like forecasting, aggregation, substitution
• Forecasting demand and Inventory control: grocery retailing versus fashion, perishables (balancing food waste and on-shelf-availability), dry goods, etc.
• Promotions management: forecasting issues and supply chain coordination
• Store operations: handling, check-outs, backrooms
• Assortment planning: customer choice models and planogramming
• Omni-channel distribution: e-commerce and home delivery

In relation to other courses, we use various concepts (forecasting principles, regressions, etc.) which are covered earlier in the education, but they are framed within a retail setting. Moreover, several adaptations to standard models necessitated by the specific retail environment will be covered.

This course aims to make the students acquainted with the (Dutch and international) retail sector. We give an overview of the relevant questions playing in the retail sector with a special focus on the operational processes. The student should be able to understand these processes in the retail sector and be able to model them. This will be possible by studying the most important papers in different decision areas of retailing (i.e. seminal papers on inventory control, distribution, store operations, assortment planning etc. and the interaction with retail marketing). Moreover, the student should be able to read and position retail operations management papers within the framework offered by this course. Throughout the course, we develop managerial insights for the retail sector and will use quantitative and empirical modeling skills.

This course will be useful for students in two ways. First, because retailers play a dominant role in many supply chains, it is not only important for retailers but also for manufacturers and distributors to understand the retail processes and their consequences on the total supply chain. Secondly, the problems faced by retailers (data availability, reducing lead-times, complexity, etc.) are shared by many other firms in the industry. As such, these problems are very generic and the knowledge obtained via this course can thus be applied in a variety of industries.

You must meet one of the following collections of requirements

• Collection 1
• Completed Final examination Bsc program
• Collection 2
• Completed Pre-Master

• Handouts