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1 – 10 of over 1000Mario J. Miranda and K. Jegasothy
A better understanding of the response of shoppers in developing countries to inevitable product stock‐outs would help logisticians to put structures in place to reduce the…
Abstract
Purpose
A better understanding of the response of shoppers in developing countries to inevitable product stock‐outs would help logisticians to put structures in place to reduce the disruption. The purpose of this paper is to examine the differences in orientations that characterize shoppers’ responses to stock‐outs in retailing environments by comparing an emerging economy, Malaysia, with a developed economy, Australia.
Design/methodology/approach
Randomly selected adult grocery shoppers across Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia were surveyed to examine shoppers’ behavioural response to a most recent stock‐out of their preferred dairy item. This study followed the methodology and reporting framework adopted in an Australian study.
Findings
When responding to stock‐outs of their preferred grocery items, shopping lists serve as instruments that give archetypical Malaysian shoppers, unlike their Australian counterparts, a framework to adjust their budgets and seek alternatives within the store itself rather than venture to another store. Most Malaysian shoppers’ reactions to an out‐of‐stock situation, just as their Australian counterparts, appear to be underpinned by their household size. If their preferred item is not available, the frugal and observant among Malaysian shoppers, however, are not inclined as much as their Australian counterparts, to buy more of their alternative choice, even if these substitute items are discounted.
Research limitations/implications
Insight into Malaysian shoppers’ behavioural response to inadequate shelf life of perishable products, considering that they might feel impelled to act as per their shopping lists, would give members of the supply chain confidence to adopt inventory management policies that make a judicious balance between avoiding stock‐outs and ensuring stock availability with acceptable shelf life.
Practical implications
Malaysian frugal and observant shoppers when responding to stock‐outs of their preferred items might allow the opportunity to let a bargain pass on alternative brands or variants, because these shoppers, guided by their shopping lists, are possibly hamstrung, by budgetary constraints in not being able to make heavier purchase outlays and by likely storage constraints in their living accommodation. Retailers in Malaysia have a greater challenge than Australian retailers to dispose of stocks of grocery products that are fast approaching their expiry dates through discounting, because Malaysian shoppers may resist buying more than their immediate need.
Originality/value
Malaysian shoppers, inclined to carry memory scripts to assist them in their shopping efforts, are conditioned to stay within their planned budgets and when confronted with a stock‐out of their preferred item, are likely to resist buying anymore than what they had planned to buy.
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Kofi Q. Dadzie and Evelyn Winston
Consumer response to merchandise shortage in the online supply chain outlet is an interesting and important issue for e‐vendors because of the high risk associated with the online…
Abstract
Purpose
Consumer response to merchandise shortage in the online supply chain outlet is an interesting and important issue for e‐vendors because of the high risk associated with the online environment. The purpose of this study is to examine the effects of the online environment on consumer out‐of‐stock behaviors. In addition, it aims to examine the relative impact of non‐web site situational factors on consumer out‐of‐stock behavior.
Design/methodology/approach
The study proposed an expectation confirmation‐disconfirmation framework based on the utility maximization principle in consumer research. This framework was validated with data from online shopping transactions gathered in two field studies.
Findings
The occurrence of a stock‐out had a pervasive negative impact on consumers' assessment of their online transactional experience and repurchase intentions. Furthermore, item substitution behavior was positively linked with merchandise information content, vividness of web site content, and service speed and a few situational factors. Overall, it was found that consumers' reaction to the “shock” effect of a stock‐out was best explained by an expectation confirmation‐disconfirmation model rather than a performance‐only or expectation‐only model.
Research limitations/implications
While the focus on the total expectation confirmation‐disconfirmation process limited the scope of the study to a single stock‐out event, future research should examine multiple stock‐out events to further validate the proposed framework.
Practical implications
Managers can take advantage of the positive linkage between web site design features and item substitution behavior by tracking the online consumers' expectation confirmation‐disconfirmation evaluative process and its effect on how consumers respond to high priced versus low priced items during a stock‐out event. Design features for low priced items such as CDs and books require product specific information to reduce item switching or exit from the e‐supply chain during a stock‐out event.
Originality/value
Scholars need a systematic framework for examining consumer response to a stock‐out that is applicable in the e‐commerce context because of the effects of abundant information access, low switching cost and the high service expectations of online customers.
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Partnerships between luxury brands and mass-market retailers, termed masstige collaborations, are the last frontier of promoting brand popularity. The new products launched during…
Abstract
Purpose
Partnerships between luxury brands and mass-market retailers, termed masstige collaborations, are the last frontier of promoting brand popularity. The new products launched during these partnerships are offered at premium prices and characterized by limited duration and supply, and hence rapid stock-out. Given the importance of this practice and the predominant focus in the literature on the managerial aspects, this study aims to investigate consumer reactions to masstige collaborations, especially in the case of missed purchases because of stock-out.
Design/methodology/approach
This paper analyzes how consumers evaluate masstige collaborations in the fashion industry using a mixed-method research design, triangulating data from different sources, analyzing Twitter comments and press articles, and then conducting different experiments to replicate the main findings.
Findings
Results reveal that missed purchases of masstige collaboration products lead to feelings of frustration (vs regret). In addition, they show that these reactions are stronger in the case of masstige (vs non-masstige) collaborations, especially when consumers experience stock-out. Different themes emerge that trigger regret and/or frustration, suggesting some frustration recovery strategies.
Originality/value
This work provides a new consumer perspective on the masstige collaboration branding practice, especially after missed purchases. The study offers insights on the critical pitfalls of this practice to help managers leverage this popular form of alliance.
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When approaching a stock‐out situation, a company should be able to actively manage the allocation of available products on the basis of customer requirements and priorities as…
Abstract
Purpose
When approaching a stock‐out situation, a company should be able to actively manage the allocation of available products on the basis of customer requirements and priorities as well as contractual relationships. The purpose of this paper is to describe different order promising mechanisms and analyze how well they can contribute to the effective management of stock‐out situations.
Design/methodology/approach
The paper provides a formal description and analysis of alternative order promising mechanism applicable in make to stock systems. Numerical analysis is conducted based on the data of a pharmaceutical company.
Findings
The paper clearly points out the potential of alternative order promising mechanisms to alleviate the negative consequences associated with a temporary stock‐out situation.
Research limitations/implications
The paper does not consider implications of inventory pre‐allocation to customer classes. Further research should address the interplay between pre‐allocation and different order allocation mechanisms.
Practical implications
The results obtained from this analysis provide guidelines for manufacturers, retailers, and vendors of supply chain software on how to design and utilize order promising systems.
Originality/value
The paper provides a consistent formal approach to modelling order promising mechanisms, introduce new and innovative order promising mechanisms and provide valuable insight into their performance through numerical analysis.
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Most retailers would agree that stock availability is one of thekeys to success but few make serious attempts to measure their currentperformance with any precision. Why it is…
Abstract
Most retailers would agree that stock availability is one of the keys to success but few make serious attempts to measure their current performance with any precision. Why it is important to measure the customer stock service actually achieved, possible measures which can be used and the problems of extracting the data needed from a company′s information systems are all examined. The underlying causes of stock‐outs and how stock availability in the warehouse affects the overall customer stock service are also discussed. The assumed environment is that of a retail chain which buys into central/regional warehouse(s) from which branch stocks are replenished.
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At a time when “out of stock” is rapidly becoming a way of life there is merit in attempting to assess the cost to the business. This article suggests some of the areas which…
Abstract
At a time when “out of stock” is rapidly becoming a way of life there is merit in attempting to assess the cost to the business. This article suggests some of the areas which should be considered.
In this monograph, our aim is to show a basic approach to producing balanced stock ranges, thus avoiding the cost penalties of over stocking on the one hand whilst averting…
Abstract
In this monograph, our aim is to show a basic approach to producing balanced stock ranges, thus avoiding the cost penalties of over stocking on the one hand whilst averting serious lost sales due to stock shortages on the other. Stocks should not be dealt with in a blanket fashion; certain selling items are a lot more important than others. Simple means of stock classification go a long way to revealing not only under and overstock situations but high priority stock ranges, growth areas, and most importantly declining products which may need phasing out altogether.
Traditionally, the distribution activities of a firm have been regarded solely as a cost of doing business. Because of this orientation, the analytical techniques applied to the…
Abstract
Traditionally, the distribution activities of a firm have been regarded solely as a cost of doing business. Because of this orientation, the analytical techniques applied to the solutions of problems in this area have tended to be optimising models aimed at reducing total cost subject to various constraints. Typically, service levels were incorporated either as an absolute level requirement so that the specific demand restricted the optimising technique or as an opportunity cost of lost sales with this cost included as a part of the total objective function to be minimised.
This study aimed to verify the impact of consumers' self-congruity on brand loyalty behavior when stock-out happens; the role of the psychological reactance theory as a mediator…
Abstract
Purpose
This study aimed to verify the impact of consumers' self-congruity on brand loyalty behavior when stock-out happens; the role of the psychological reactance theory as a mediator was assessed.
Design/methodology/approach
Data collection was carried out in the form of a questionnaire survey. Data from 417 respondents were analyzed, and structural equation modeling was applied to test the hypotheses.
Findings
The findings revealed the positive significant impact of consumers' self-congruity on their brand loyalty behavior, and the mediating effect of psychological reactance between self-congruity and consumers' brand loyalty behavior.
Practical implications
This study offers retailers/brand owners a deeper understanding of the remedy strategy needed to reduce the sales loss in their firms when stock-out happens.
Originality/value
This study provides a theoretical and empirical test on the influence of consumers' self-congruity on their brand loyalty behavior, bringing consumers' psychological reactance into the research as a mediating factor, thereby enriching the existing research on consumers' out-of-stock reactions.
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Adesola Olalekan, Victor Igweike, Oloruntoba Ekun, Abosede Adegbite and Olayinka Ogunleye
Pre-eclampsia and eclampsia (PE/E) are rising in Sub-Saharan Africa, including Nigeria. This study aims to evaluate the availability and logistics management of sixteen items from…
Abstract
Purpose
Pre-eclampsia and eclampsia (PE/E) are rising in Sub-Saharan Africa, including Nigeria. This study aims to evaluate the availability and logistics management of sixteen items from the Nigerian essential medicine list required for managing these conditions.
Design/Methodology/approach
A cross-sectional study in 50 health-care facilities in Lagos State, Nigeria, at the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic by interviewing the facility’s main person in charge of health commodities. Data were recorded during the visit and in the previous six months using the adapted Logistics Indicators Assessment Tool (LIAT). In addition, descriptive analysis was conducted based on the World Health Organization availability index.
Findings
The availability of 13 (81%) of the commodities were high, and 3 (19%) were relatively high in the facilities, stock out rate during the visitation and previous six months varied with the commodities: urinalysis strip (22%) and (40%), hydralazine (20%) and (20%), labetalol injection (8%) and (20%), labetalol tablet (24%) and (24%) and sphygmomanometer (8%) and (8%). No stock out was recorded for 11 (69%) commodities. All the facilities observed 9 (75%) out of the 12 storage guidelines, and 36 (72%) had a perfect storage condition score.
Limitations/Implications
Current state of PE/E health commodities in the selected facilities is highlighted, and the strengths and weaknesses of the supply chain in these health facilities were identified and discussed.
Originality/value
These commodities’ availability ranged from reasonably high to very high. Regular supportive supervision is germane to strengthening the logistics management system for these commodities to prevent the negative impact on the health and well-being of the people during the COVID-19 pandemic and post-pandemic.
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