Impact of advertisements on retailer's inventory for time-varying perishable rate with preservation technology investment under customer return and trade credit policy

Abstract

In any business worldwide, inventory management is a challenging task for every organisation. This article demonstrates an inventory model for deteriorating products from the retailer's point of view in which: 1) demand is determined by price and frequency of advertisement; 2) the influence of trade credit on expanding small business and their consumers is the focus of this research; 3) product deteriorates with an expiry date; 4) retailer invests money in preservation technology to preserve the deterioration of a product; 5) customer returns the product to the company are the significant factors among the interrelation of supplier and retailer for a highly demanding product. The main objective of this article is to optimise the retailer's total profit in terms of cycle length, price, frequency of advertisement, and capital in preservation technology. Also, for optimality, an algorithm is created. Finally, the results were validated by solving two numerical illustrations and conducting sensitivity analysis of the main factors resulting from the following managerial implications: 1) if the retailer receives a longer allowable delay period from the supplier, the retailer can maximise total profit; 2) an increase in the ordering cost per order the overall profit decreases.