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Integrative retail logistics: An exploratory study

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Abstract

Grocery retail companies have gone through a transformational change in the past by heavily investing in distribution centers of their own and by expanding their logistics activities. As a result, many retailers are now in the process of better adjusting their logistics operations to their specific requirements against the backdrop of raising pressure in a highly competitive environment. In this light, we provide an exploratory study based on semi-structured face-to-face interviews with 28 leading European grocery retailers. First we examine the current strategic designs of grocery retailers’ internal logistics networks. Next, we shift our focus to the resulting interdependencies in tactical supply chain planning between instore operations and upstream logistics processes. We have identified five interdependent planning issues: order packaging unit, store delivery pattern, store replenishment lead time, store delivery arrival times and arrival time windows, as well as roll-cage sequencing and loading carriers. Each of these mid-term planning interdependencies is evaluated with regard to implications in the stores, in transportation and in the distribution centers. The mid-term operations planning issues in the grocery retail industry considered in this paper have remained practically unexplored up to now. The outcome of this empirical research study therefore has substantial relevance for future retail research and practice.

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Notes

  1. For example, in Switzerland the two largest retailers hold a market share of around 67 % in the food retail market (The Economist Intelligence Unit 2010); in Austria, the three largest grocery retailers have a market share of 78.5 % (Trautrims et al. 2010, pp. 70–71); after two takeovers, the German drugstore market is dominated by only three companies operating nationwide.

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Acknowledgments

We are deeply grateful to all the managers and employees of the 28 retailers who assisted us with the interviews discussed in this paper. They contributed to an intensive exchange between academia and those involved in day-to-day operations. We would also liketo acknowledge the financial support provided by the German retail and FMCG Foundation “Goldener Zuckerhut.” Moreover, we very much appreciate the comments and suggestions received from two anonymous reviewers, which significantly improved this paper.

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  1. Catholic University of Eichstaett-Ingolstadt, Ingolstadt, Germany

    Heinrich Kuhn & Michael G. Sternbeck

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  1. Heinrich Kuhn
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  2. Michael G. Sternbeck
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Correspondence to Michael G. Sternbeck.

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Kuhn, H., Sternbeck, M.G. Integrative retail logistics: An exploratory study. Oper Manag Res 6, 2–18 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12063-012-0075-9

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