Alison Chen, assistant professor of decision sciences, recently had a research article accepted in Manufacturing & Service Operations Management, one of the top journals in Operations Management.
The article is titled, “Simultaneous vs Sequential: Optimal Assortment Recommendation in Multi-Store Retailing,” and focuses on how retailers can optimize product assortments across multiple stores to maximize revenue. It examines two key strategies for presenting products to customers:
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Simultaneous Offering: All product options from across a retailer's stores are presented to customers at the same time. This approach allows customers to immediately browse the full range of products, whether available in the store they are in or elsewhere.
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Sequential Offering: Customers are initially presented with only the products available in the store they are visiting. If they don’t find something they wish to purchase, they are then shown options from other stores.
Chen and her co-authors found that the sequential offering strategy often leads to higher revenue. By focusing first on local inventory before expanding options, retailers can better manage customer preferences and avoid situations where lower-priced products from other stores reduce sales of higher-priced items in the current store.
This research provides valuable insights for retailers navigating the challenges of multi-store operations, offering practical strategies to enhance both profitability and customer satisfaction.
This research was also accepted for presentation at the Conference on Web and Internet Economics (WINE) 2024 https://wine2024.org/#accepted-papers.
