Coordinating replenishment mechanisms in supply chain: From the collaborative supplier and store-level retailer perspective

Supply chain integration has affected the replenishment operations between suppliers and store-level retailers. This research focuses on the store-level retailer's replenishment problems and proposes three collaborative replenishment mechanism models in the collaborative supplier and store-level retailer environment. The simulation models are developed based on a case grocery company and explore the impacts of different scenarios (such as customer arrival rates, inventory control policies, and periodic review times) on the system performance. The results can provide the implications for suppliers and store-level retailers to coordinate their replenishment mechanisms. Finally, practical replenishment issues and future directions are discussed. (C) 2009 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.