Logistics Service Level in Retail: Classification of Poor On-Shelf Availability Causes
MAGAZINE №6 (77) December 2016
AUTHORS
POLITOVA T.Y. - Reverse Logistics Manager, Tehnosila (Moscow, Russia)
CATEGORY Analysis in logistics and SCM Retail companies’ corporate logistics Logistics service management
ABSTRACT
Despite the technologies development focused on material flow management improvement in retail, the problem of poor on-shelf availability (OSA) is still the main challenge for both producers and retailers. The difficulty to increase the availability of goods is associated with a lack of clear understanding of its low value causes. On the one hand, current out-of-stock causes’ groupings reveal a different degree of problem elaboration in the literature. On the other hand, they help to clarify a general viewpoint on the problem in the academic sphere and to explore the factors influencing OSA.
OSA may differ significantly for different categories of goods, variously affecting retailer performance. Management of goods with limited shelf life, i.e. “Fresh”, is the most problematic from material flow management standpoint. Poor OSA causes for fresh food are grouped in the article. The classification takes into account the characteristics of goods with limited shelf life and the specifics of a retailer that use automatic replenishment stores’ system. This classification aims to be the first step in the “Fresh” on-shelf availability management.
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