An Analysis of Computer Assisted Ordering in the Grocery Industry

Author

Patrick J. Gordon, Fontbonne College

Year of Award

1990

Degree

Master of Business Administration (MBA)

College

College of Business & Professional Studies

Degree Program

Business

Department

Business Administration

Keywords

store, average, sales, inventory, automation

Abstract

Today’s grocery stores have become center’s of retail selling with ever increasing sales volume. Gone almost completely are the corner grocery stores and the "Mom and Pop" operations. With the ever increasing size store and ever increasing sales volume they produce, comes the increasing problem of inventory control and product regeneration. Product regeneration at store level for the grocery industry has always been looked on as an art form. The order-writer wrote his orders according to past trends and personal experiences. Seasonal,variations, neighborhood ethnic needs and sales patterns were all judged by the individual store order writer each time he wrote his order. Because of the smaller configurations of these early grocery stores, the order writer may have had to write only one or two orders a week. The new supermarkets and hypermarkets receive deliveries daily which makes order writing a nightmarish task. The art of order writing has evolved into a need for an expertise in order regeneration. 1 2 Computerized checkout lanes have enabled us to gather enormous amounts of information as to sales trends and patterns and the tracking of inventory. By using this information as a basis of which to start, a computer assisted ordering system can be a viable alternative to the order regeneration system. Computer assisted ordering, sometimes referred to as scan-assisted ordering, is in its infancy in today’s grocery industry. Schnucks supermarkets is on the cutting edge of this new system and has pioneered many of the innovations used in computer assisted ordering. Inventory control is the key result of the new order system. Through an in depth analysis a better understanding of the system can be achieved.

Document Type

Restricted Thesis

Recommended Citation

Gordon, Patrick J., "An Analysis of Computer Assisted Ordering in the Grocery Industry" (1990). All Theses, Dissertations, and Capstone Projects. 446.
https://griffinshare.fontbonne.edu/all-etds/446