ABSTRACT

This paper studies an important real-life perishable inventory management problem, which has not been properly addressed by the existing research. In the problem setting, a number of agents are renting spaces/shelves from a landlord, the inventory capability of each agent is limited to the rent space, and agents are risk-averse due to their budget. The objective is to maximize the profits of the agents/retailers while minimizing waste and improving customers’ shopping experience. To approach the problem, we develop a discrete-event simulation model to determine the optimum inventory scheme for displaying perishables. The proposed simulation model can show sales trajectories with respect to various features and estimate profit curves. Our model improves profits by choosing the right replenishment threshold and price discount. This study has implications to agents/retailers who deal with inventory scheduling and pricing problems for perishables under stochastic conditions.

摘要

本文研究了一个重要的现实生活中的易腐烂库存管理问题，现有研究尚未正确解决该问题。在问题设置中，许多代理商向房东租用空间/货架，每个代理商的库存能力仅限于租赁空间，代理商由于预算而规避风险。目标是最大限度地提高代理商/零售商的利润，同时最大限度地减少浪费并改善客户的购物体验。为了解决这个问题，我们开发了一个离散事件模拟模型来确定展示易腐物品的最佳库存方案。所提出的模拟模型可以显示关于各种特征的销售轨迹并估计利润曲线。我们的模型通过选择正确的补货门槛和价格折扣来提高利润。