Demand and supply chain planning in grocery retail: an operations planning framework

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to develop a holistic operations planning framework for grocery retailing. The authors aim to identify, describe and structure coherent demand and supply chain (SC) planning problems in a comprehensive architecture. Design/methodology/approach – The authors reviewed key literature on retail SC management and sales planning. This built a foundation for the development of an integrated operations planning framework. The findings were evaluated through discussions with retailers and communications with retail planners, including personal interviews with 28 leading European grocery retailers and with people in related positions from the consumer goods industry and consultancies. Findings – The core of this paper is the development of a coherent demand and SC planning matrix. It demonstrates planning interdependencies and defines a framework for retail operations. The grocery planning framework integrates retail specifics, as well as hierarchical and sequential aspects of decision making. That is why this planning architecture also forms the foundation for research and development of advanced decision support systems. Practical implications – Planning tasks are identified in interrelated planning modules permitting coordinated and decentralised decision making, which is necessary for operational and complexity reasons. The planning framework assists retail planners in understanding their decision problem from a comprehensive perspective. Better coordination of different modules and further development of retail‐tailored analytical models will improve planning quality. Originality/value – This is the first paper that structures retail demand and SC planning questions coherently in one framework, matching demand and supply from a long‐ to short‐term perspective and from supplier to customer.