IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jsusta/v13y2021i17p9490-d620387.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Exploring the Connections between Backrooms, Inventory Record Inaccuracies, and Waste

Author

Listed:
  • Madison J. Bixler

    (Naveen Jindal School of Management, The University of Texas at Dallas, Richardson, TX 75080, USA)

  • Dorothée Honhon

    (Naveen Jindal School of Management, The University of Texas at Dallas, Richardson, TX 75080, USA)

Abstract

This paper explores the impact of retail store backrooms on inventory record inaccuracies (IRI) and waste. A trend in the retail industry is operating in the absence of a backroom. Benefits of operating without a backroom can include more employee presence on the sales floor, quicker replenishment (or the elimination of traditional backroom to shelf replenishment entirely), lower on-hand inventory, and the reduction of waste in the form of time, labor, cashflow, and product obsolescence. By conducting a literature review of the published literature on retail backrooms, this paper explores two additional unstated benefits to retailers operating without a backroom; specifically, the reduction of IRI and waste—an angle that has been previously understudied in the current academic literature. The objectives of this paper include defining a link between the existence of a backroom and waste/IRI, presenting an opportunity for future research in this area of study, and providing practical advice for corporations that wish to operate with or without a backroom.

Suggested Citation

  • Madison J. Bixler & Dorothée Honhon, 2021. "Exploring the Connections between Backrooms, Inventory Record Inaccuracies, and Waste," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(17), pages 1-12, August.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:13:y:2021:i:17:p:9490-:d:620387
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/13/17/9490/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/13/17/9490/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Andriolo, Alessandro & Battini, Daria & Grubbström, Robert W. & Persona, Alessandro & Sgarbossa, Fabio, 2014. "A century of evolution from Harris׳s basic lot size model: Survey and research agenda," International Journal of Production Economics, Elsevier, vol. 155(C), pages 16-38.
    2. Özgün Turgut & Florian Taube & Stefan Minner, 2018. "Data-driven retail inventory management with backroom effect," OR Spectrum: Quantitative Approaches in Management, Springer;Gesellschaft für Operations Research e.V., vol. 40(4), pages 945-968, October.
    3. Rekik, Yacine & Sahin, Evren & Dallery, Yves, 2008. "Analysis of the impact of the RFID technology on reducing product misplacement errors at retail stores," International Journal of Production Economics, Elsevier, vol. 112(1), pages 264-278, March.
    4. Weili Xue & Ozgun Caliskan Demirag & Frank Y. Chen & Yi Yang, 2017. "Managing Retail Shelf and Backroom Inventories When Demand Depends on the Shelf-Stock Level," Production and Operations Management, Production and Operations Management Society, vol. 26(9), pages 1685-1704, September.
    5. Nicole DeHoratius & Ananth Raman, 2008. "Inventory Record Inaccuracy: An Empirical Analysis," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 54(4), pages 627-641, April.
    6. Nikola Milicevic & Aleksandar Grubor, 2015. "The effect of backroom size on retail product availability – operational and technological solutions," The AMFITEATRU ECONOMIC journal, Academy of Economic Studies - Bucharest, Romania, vol. 17(39), pages 661-661, May.
    7. van Zelst, Susan & van Donselaar, Karel & van Woensel, Tom & Broekmeulen, Rob & Fransoo, Jan, 2009. "Logistics drivers for shelf stacking in grocery retail stores: Potential for efficiency improvement," International Journal of Production Economics, Elsevier, vol. 121(2), pages 620-632, October.
    8. Davide Russo & Christian Spreafico, 2020. "TRIZ-Based Guidelines for Eco-Improvement," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(8), pages 1-24, April.
    9. C. Jeenanunta & V. Kongtarat & J. Buddhakulsomsiri, 2021. "A simulation-optimisation approach to determine optimal order-up-to level for inventory system with long lead time," International Journal of Logistics Systems and Management, Inderscience Enterprises Ltd, vol. 38(2), pages 253-276.
    10. Li Chen, 2021. "Fixing Phantom Stockouts: Optimal Data‐Driven Shelf Inspection Policies," Production and Operations Management, Production and Operations Management Society, vol. 30(3), pages 689-702, March.
    11. Wen, Naijun & Graves, Stephen C. & Justin Ren, Z., 2012. "Ship-pack optimization in a two-echelon distribution system," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 220(3), pages 777-785.
    12. Arzum Akkaş, 2019. "Shelf Space Selection to Control Product Expiration," Production and Operations Management, Production and Operations Management Society, vol. 28(9), pages 2184-2201, September.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Lena Riesenegger & Alexander Hübner, 2022. "Reducing Food Waste at Retail Stores—An Explorative Study," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(5), pages 1-21, February.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Mou, Shandong & Robb, David J. & DeHoratius, Nicole, 2018. "Retail store operations: Literature review and research directions," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 265(2), pages 399-422.
    2. Thomas Wensing & Michael G. Sternbeck & Heinrich Kuhn, 2018. "Optimizing case-pack sizes in the bricks-and-mortar retail trade," OR Spectrum: Quantitative Approaches in Management, Springer;Gesellschaft für Operations Research e.V., vol. 40(4), pages 913-944, October.
    3. Mohammad Saffari, 2022. "Periodic inventory management when demand stochastically depends on shelf-stock," OPSEARCH, Springer;Operational Research Society of India, vol. 59(4), pages 1489-1501, December.
    4. Arzum Akkaş & Nachiketa Sahoo, 2020. "Reducing Product Expiration by Aligning Salesforce Incentives: A Data‐driven Approach," Production and Operations Management, Production and Operations Management Society, vol. 29(8), pages 1992-2009, August.
    5. Xu, Jinpeng & Jiang, Wei & Feng, Gengzhong & Tian, Jun, 2012. "Comparing improvement strategies for inventory inaccuracy in a two-echelon supply chain," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 221(1), pages 213-221.
    6. Tao, Feng & Wang, Liang & Fan, Tijun & Yu, Hao, 2022. "RFID adoption strategy in a retailer-dominant supply chain with competing suppliers," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 302(1), pages 117-129.
    7. Biswal, Arun Kumar & Jenamani, Mamata & Kumar, Sri Krishna, 2018. "Warehouse efficiency improvement using RFID in a humanitarian supply chain: Implications for Indian food security system," Transportation Research Part E: Logistics and Transportation Review, Elsevier, vol. 109(C), pages 205-224.
    8. Feng Tao & Yanhong Xie & Yao-Yu Wang & Fujun Lai & Kin Keung Lai, 2022. "Contract strategies in competitive supply chains subject to inventory inaccuracy," Annals of Operations Research, Springer, vol. 309(2), pages 641-661, February.
    9. Chang, Seokcheol & Klabjan, Diego & Vossen, Thomas, 2010. "Optimal radio frequency identification deployment in a supply chain network," International Journal of Production Economics, Elsevier, vol. 125(1), pages 71-83, May.
    10. Karel H. van Donselaar & Vishal Gaur & Tom van Woensel & Rob A. C. M. Broekmeulen & Jan C. Fransoo, 2010. "Ordering Behavior in Retail Stores and Implications for Automated Replenishment," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 56(5), pages 766-784, May.
    11. Feng Tao & Tijun Fan & Kin Keung Lai & Lin Li, 2017. "Impact of RFID technology on inventory control policy," Journal of the Operational Research Society, Palgrave Macmillan;The OR Society, vol. 68(2), pages 207-220, February.
    12. Alexander Hübner & Fabian Schäfer & Kai N. Schaal, 2020. "Maximizing Profit via Assortment and Shelf‐Space Optimization for Two‐Dimensional Shelves," Production and Operations Management, Production and Operations Management Society, vol. 29(3), pages 547-570, March.
    13. Fan, Ti-Jun & Chang, Xiang-Yun & Gu, Chun-Hua & Yi, Jian-Jun & Deng, Sheng, 2014. "Benefits of RFID technology for reducing inventory shrinkage," International Journal of Production Economics, Elsevier, vol. 147(PC), pages 659-665.
    14. Huber, Jakob & Stuckenschmidt, Heiner, 2021. "Intraday shelf replenishment decision support for perishable goods," International Journal of Production Economics, Elsevier, vol. 231(C).
    15. Thiel, Daniel & Hovelaque, Vincent & Thi Le Hoa, Vo, 2010. "Impact of inventory inaccuracy on service-level quality in (Q,R) continuous-review lost-sales inventory models," International Journal of Production Economics, Elsevier, vol. 123(2), pages 301-311, February.
    16. Adam J. Mersereau, 2015. "Demand Estimation from Censored Observations with Inventory Record Inaccuracy," Manufacturing & Service Operations Management, INFORMS, vol. 17(3), pages 335-349, July.
    17. Mervegül Kirci & Olov Isaksson & Ralf Seifert, 2022. "Managing Perishability in the Fruit and Vegetable Supply Chains," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(9), pages 1-24, April.
    18. Daniel Thiel & Vincent Hovelaque & Thi Le Hoa Vo, 2009. "Impact of inventory inaccuracy on service-level quality: A simulation analysis," Working Papers SMART 09-01, INRAE UMR SMART.
    19. Holzapfel, Andreas & Hübner, Alexander & Kuhn, Heinrich & Sternbeck, Michael G., 2016. "Delivery pattern and transportation planning in grocery retailing," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 252(1), pages 54-68.
    20. Fan, Tijun & Tao, Feng & Deng, Sheng & Li, Shuxia, 2015. "Impact of RFID technology on supply chain decisions with inventory inaccuracies," International Journal of Production Economics, Elsevier, vol. 159(C), pages 117-125.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:13:y:2021:i:17:p:9490-:d:620387. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.