Physical Sciences and Mathematics Commons^™

The Vendor In A Retail Setting: A Survey, Jesse Laporte

All Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Other Capstone Projects

We consider the problem of managing nonperishable inventory as a vendor in a grocer setting. To manage inventory effectively, we must meet the demand of our customers as closely as we can. Too much inventory results in holding costs and ties up a large amount of capital and too little inventory results in lost sales or substitution. It is typical in a retail setting for the vendor to have access to past ordering data, but this data is only representative of the demand when we have sufficient inventory. Otherwise, the demand exceeds the inventory on hand and we lose, in …