ABSTRACT

Moreover, as we discuss in the second part of this chapter, the ful–llment of customers’ demand for such a wide variety of products by Internet retailers involves the ®ow of small orders that may originate from, and may also be delivered to, a broad array of customer destinations. As a result, order processing and inventory management activities necessary to handle these orders are quite different in Internet-based supply chains than in other types of supply chains where bulk product shipments are the norm. In Internet retailing, orders may draw from inventory located at many di˜erent supply chain echelons and require their transfer across varying distances to their recipients. To respond to these challenges, Internet retailers must take into consideration a series of inventory management policies, which is also discussed in the second part of this chapter.