The simulation analysis of push and pull shelf replenishment policies for retail supply chain

Abstract

No matter how efficient the supply chain is, a bad shelf replenishment procedure would greatly reduce the performance of the retail supply chain. In this paper, some critical factors influencing retail supply chains were investigated. In the beginning, most shelf replenishment policies using in retail stores were investigated. We would then look at those policies which cause shelf replenishment delays and sales lost. There are two basic shelf replenishment policies, namely, the push and pull styles operations. The policypsilas impacts to the efficiency of retail supply chain were analyzed and compared. In the second part of the paper, RFID hardware devices installed in retail store is assumed. Based on a real case study, the devices setup is transferred to model in simulation software. By using simulation analysis, we hoped to estimate RFIDpsilas impacts to different shelf replenishment policies in retail store. Finally, from the simulation results, we show that RFID technology could bring certain level of benefits to current retail store shelf replenishment operations if it is used in suitable way.