Purpose: The exact estimation of the fill rate in the lost sales case is complex and time consuming. However, simple and suitable methods are needed for its estimation so that inventory managers could use them. Design/methodology/approach: Instead of trying to compute the fill rate in one step,...

Purpose: The exact estimation of the fill rate in the lost sales case is complex and time consuming. However, simple and suitable methods are needed for its estimation so that inventory managers could use them. Design/methodology/approach: Instead of trying to compute the fill rate in one step,...

We study the inventory control problem of a retailer working under stochastic demand and stochastic limited supply. We assume that the unfilled part of the retailer׳s order is fully backordered at the supplier and replenished with certainty in the following period. As it may not always be...