Abstract
Effective inventory management is critical to retailing success. Surprisingly, there is little published empirical research examining relationships between retail inventory, sales and customer service. Based on a survey of 101 chain store units, this paper develops and tests a series of hypotheses about retail inventory. Seventy‐five percent of the store owners/managers responded to the mail survey. As expected, significant positive relationships were found between inventory, service and sales. Specifically, support was found for the theory that inventory is a function of the square root of sales. Also, greater product variety leads to higher inventory, and service level is an exponential function of inventory. Finally, demand uncertainty was found to have no apparent effect on inventory levels.
Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a callMore From: International Journal of Physical Distribution & Logistics Management
Disclaimer: All third-party content on this website/platform is and will remain the property of their respective owners and is provided on "as is" basis without any warranties, express or implied. Use of third-party content does not indicate any affiliation, sponsorship with or endorsement by them. Any references to third-party content is to identify the corresponding services and shall be considered fair use under The CopyrightLaw.
