Assortment Planning at an Omni-Channel Retailer: Long-Tail Strategy, Demand Fulfillment Level, and Primary Channel
研究了全渠道品类规划中产品热度、需求满足水平和渠道主次三个关键方面，发现线上渠道价格更高或顾客渠道偏好异质时，传统“热门走实体、冷门走线上”的建议可能并非最优。
In this study, we develop insights on three key aspects related to omni-channel assortment: product popularity, demand fulfillment level, and channel primacy. Regarding product popularity, we probe whether conventional wisdom of selling popular products through the physical channel and niche products through the online channel is always optimal. Our results show that this suggestion may be sub-optimal when the price in the online channel is greater or customers are heterogeneous in their preference for channel. For demand fulfillment level, we examine whether popular products should always have greater demand fulfillment level. We find that the fulfillment level depends on the cost structure of the channel through which the product is sold and not on demand volume. Finally, we develop insights on when it is optimal to sell most or all of the products through one of the channels and explore how this is affected by changes in model parameters.