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An opaque selling scheme to reduce shortage and wastage in perishable inventory systems

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  • Sasanuma, Katsunobu
  • Hibiki, Akira
  • Sexton, Thomas

Abstract

Effective management of perishable inventory systems is often strewn with challenges, especially when a strong trade-off relationship exists between shortage and wastage of perishables: A smaller inventory increases the chance to lose sales (leading to higher expected shortage cost), while a larger inventory increases the chance to waste perishables (leading to higher expected wastage cost). The root cause of this strong trade-off relationship is high product demand variability. To mitigate the issue and reduce the cost of operating perishable inventory systems, some grocery stores utilize an opaque selling scheme: selling an anonymous product whose brand or exact specification is shielded from customers at the time of sale. The use of opaque products has now become a popular means to reduce shortage/wastage at grocery stores. However, there has been little discussion of the effectiveness of opaque schemes applied to perishable inventory systems.

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  • Sasanuma, Katsunobu & Hibiki, Akira & Sexton, Thomas, 2022. "An opaque selling scheme to reduce shortage and wastage in perishable inventory systems," Operations Research Perspectives, Elsevier, vol. 9(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:oprepe:v:9:y:2022:i:c:s2214716021000336
    DOI: 10.1016/j.orp.2021.100220
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    Cited by:

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    2. Sebatjane, Makoena, 2022. "The impact of preservation technology investments on lot-sizing and shipment strategies in a three-echelon food supply chain involving growing and deteriorating items," Operations Research Perspectives, Elsevier, vol. 9(C).

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