Abstract

Shelf space optimization models receive high attention among researchers for years. The allocation of different products with a certain number of facings (a facing corresponds to one visible unit of the product on the shelf) to a limited shelf space is a catchy example of applying operations research methods for a practical use case. Some approaches are more of a generic kind in order to create a basic understanding of the possibilities of decision support models while others aim to investigate specific impacts of different factors (e.g., cross-space elasticity, cost functions). Further a set of approaches provide applicable decision support tools which can be used to determine (almost) final planograms for retail stores. Beside a lot of improvements provided by latest research retailers are subjected to a continuous development. The requirements for shelf space planning in practice are increasing with new technologies (e.g., planning software, data availability) and impacts from different research fields (e.g., marketing, food chemistry, logistics). When shelf space models are created these specifications should be considered closely in order to provide beneficial solutions. Indeed the intention of researchers and retailers doing shelf space planning might differ in many cases. During a collaborative research project with one of Europe's biggest food retailer over three years a lot of experience could be achieved and intensive comparisons between scientific work and practical requirements could be fulfilled. Based on the experiences made during our collaboration where several optimization models were developed and whose results were actually applied to stores, in this paper the key findings from the related processes shall be shared. The goal is to provide insights from practice and point to unnoticed problems in order to let both groups, retailers and researches, gain valuable information and simultaneously improve their work. Finally some rather unattended, but crucial, aspects of shelf space allocation are mentioned suggesting further areas of research.

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