Alexander Hübner, Manuel Ostermeier, Christian Dethlefs | 29.07.2022
We are happy to share that our research on rapid order fulfillment in omnichannel retail operations was accepted for publication in the EURO Journal on Transportation and Logistics (VHB-Journal rating: B) and is available at https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2192437622000097
Grow
ing customer demands for rapid deliveries of grocery orders and market presence of pure online players have increased pressure on offline grocery retailers in recent years. Omnichannel concepts try to leverage benefits of both online and offline worlds. The ship-from-store concept allows offline retailers with close customer proximity to deliver products quickly. It also brings benefits of balancing inventories and reducing food waste in stores.
ing customer demands for rapid deliveries of grocery orders and market presence of pure online players have increased pressure on offline grocery retailers in recent years. Omnichannel concepts try to leverage benefits of both online and offline worlds. The ship-from-store concept allows offline retailers with close customer proximity to deliver products quickly. It also brings benefits of balancing inventories and reducing food waste in stores.Prof. Dr. Alexander Hübner, Prof. Dr. Manuel Ostermeier, and Christian Dethlefs assessed this concept through a time-and-motion study with a large grocery retailer and an optimization model tailored to rapid fulfillment of online orders in omnichannel grocery retailing. The model collects customer orders from a certain area, assigns them to stores with product availability, and forms delivery routes for a set of different warehouses (stores and distribution centers) and vehicles (small to large). The model archives lower total costs for the retailer when combining different types of warehouses and vehicles, showing the potential of omnichannel retail concepts and the options for traditional retailers to expand into the field of online retail.