Master's Thesis in Logistics and Supply Chain Management _____________________________________________________ Title: Postponement in Retail Industry Authors: Ali Raza & Syed Mohammad Naqvi Tutor: Helgi Valur Fredriksson Date: May 2009 Key Words: Speculation, Postponement, Customer Order Decoupling point, Retailing ______________________________________________________________ Abstract Problem: The Swedish consumer electronics market is growing but is facing saturation because of standardized products strategy. This is resulting in the loss of sales and cus-tomers. With the increasing need for quick response towards consumers‟ demands, the choice of operational strategies for retailers are becoming crucial and critical. Recognizing the advantages because of postponement strategies and the risks offered by full specula-tion strategies current study is designed to analyze the importance of postponement strat-egy, how it may relate to potential solutions. Purpose: We have discussed the increasingly important question of supply chain strate-gy for global operations. This study is done in retailer‟s perspective, to identify and de-scribe the use of "Postponement strategy for Swedish electronic retailing firms to attain flexibility in lo-gistic operations". Method: In this thesis we have adopted the case study approach. Elgiganten is the big-gest electronic retailer not only in Sweden but in the Nordic countries with the group of Elkjop. The data was collected with the help of open ended interviews from Managers of Elgiganten at Jonkoping and Torsvik. Results: Elgiganten is facing the problems of wastes in the form of lost inventory, high costs; they have the additional problems of lost sales and customers because of their spe-culative approach. Based on the findings postponement is suggested for few product cat-egories depending upon the needs and characteristics of those product categories. Our findings and analysis show that Postponement for retailers can bring a lot of benefits by making the whole supply chain flexible. .
Master's Thesis in Logistics and Supply Chain Management
_____________________________________________________
Title: Postponement in Retail Industry
Authors: Ali Raza & Syed Mohammad Naqvi
Tutor: Helgi Valur Fredriksson
Date: May 2009
Key Words: Speculation, Postponement, Customer Order Decoupling point, Retailing
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Abstract
Problem:
Purpose:
"Postponement strategy for Swedish electronic retailing firms to attain flexibility in lo-gistic operations". Method: In this thesis we have adopted the case study approach. Elgiganten is the big-gest electronic retailer not only in Sweden but in the Nordic countries with the group of Elkjop. The data was collected with the help of open ended interviews from Managers of Elgiganten at Jonkoping and Torsvik. Results: Elgiganten is facing the problems of wastes in the form of lost inventory, high costs; they have the additional problems of lost sales and customers because of their spe-culative approach. Based on the findings postponement is suggested for few product cat-egories depending upon the needs and characteristics of those product categories. Our findings and analysis show that Postponement for retailers can bring a lot of benefits by making the whole supply chain flexible. .
Method:
Results: