Dear Colleagues,
We are excited to launch a new Research Webinar Series organized by the POMS College of Supply Chain Management. The series will be held twice per semester (on the second Friday of every other month) and will feature two junior scholars presenting their cutting-edge research.
Our inaugural session is scheduled for:
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Friday, September 12, 2025
๐ 10:00 โ 11:30 AM Eastern Time
๐ Live Webinar (Registration Required)
Webinar Theme:
Contagion and Coordination: How Stockouts and Quick Commerce Shape Retail Operations
Speakers:
- Fahimeh Chomachaei (University of Massachusetts Boston) โ Estimating the stockout contagion effect in a grocery retail setting
Abstract: Stockouts present substantial challenges and financial repercussions in the grocery retail sector. Despite extensive research examining their impact on sales or unfulfilled demand, there remains a gap in empirical research concerning the contagion effects of stockouts. Our study aims to address this gap by providing a framework for estimating the contagion effects of stockouts, focusing on how a stockout event may influence subsequent stockout events across stores and products. We illustrate our framework using a comprehensive point-of-sales panel dataset that covers multiple grocery retail stores in the same market. Stockout events are identified through the estimation of a hidden Markov model. Using a fixed-effect econometric framework, we uncover significant stockout contagion effects across stores and products in the three product categories under investigation. We further show that the occurrence and intensity of contagion are linked to product attributes and customer loyalty to specific products, brands, and stores. Furthermore, contagion effects are more pronounced among stores belonging to the same retail chain and located in close geographic proximity. Our analysis indicates that a 10% increase in the stockout probability of a focal product at one store within a chain is associated with a 2.7 to 3.8 percentage point increase in the stockout probability of the same product at a nearby store in the same chain. Exploring the contagion effect of stockouts across stores and products is crucial for retailers and manufacturers to offer operational and supply chain advantages. Understanding this effect allows retailers to develop strategies for managing and mitigating the impact of stockouts, optimizing inventory management practices, and ensuring sufficient stock availability across stores. Similarly, manufacturers benefit from understanding which product categories exhibit strong cross-store contagion effects, enabling them to prioritize replenishment and effectively mitigate stockout risks. Moreover, our research sheds light on the cross-product stockout contagion effect and offers guidance to retail managers. Retailers can minimize the impact of stockouts on sales and customer satisfaction by anticipating customer behavior and ensuring adequate stock levels for substitute products.
- Pranesh Saisridhar (Indian Institute of Management Calcutta) โ Coordinating retailer-platform strategic choices in quick commerce partnerships
Abstract: This study examines how a Quick Commerce (QC) platform that seeks to enter a new geography can coordinate mutually beneficial partnerships with a conventional local retailer. The conventional retailer could either be a committed or a passive type, classified based on her commitment to maintaining service standards. We employ a game-theoretic model in which the platform offers the conventional retailer two partnership models, namely marketplace model and dark store model. The conventional retailer chooses either of these models or continues with her existing store operation by not accepting the platform's partnership offer. We first analyse how the conventional retailer makes her strategic choice in the absence of incentives from the QC platform. Our findings show that the dark store model is more attractive compared to the marketplace model as the conventional retailer's commitment to service standards increases. The conventional retailer's preferred strategic choice may differ from the strategic choice that maximises the total supply chain (TSC) payoff. Subsequently, we determine scenarios in which the QC platform should induce the retailer types to choose the same strategic choice (retailer commitment does not matter), but reward them based on their commitment, or choose different strategic choices (retailer commitment matters). In each of these scenarios, when the QC platform can identify the retailer's commitment, we show that transfer payments can be designed based on the conventional retailer's type to coordinate the strategic choice (retailer's strategic choice is same as the strategy that maximises TSC payoff), while resulting in a win-win for the QC platform and the retailer. When the QC platform cannot identify the retailer's commitment and there is asymmetry in information, we show how the platform can design effort-based payment menus to reveal the retailer's type and reward them appropriately, thereby achieving a win-win for both parties.
The session will be moderated by Stanley Lim (Michigan State University).
๐ Register here: https://tinyurl.com/3ewm6s9w
We look forward to your participation in supporting this initiative and engaging with impactful research in supply chain management.
Join our LinkedIn group: https://www.linkedin.com/groups/14670041
POMS College of Supply Chain Management Board
President: Stanley Lim, Michigan State University
VP Communications: Yue Zhang, Duke University
VP Meetings: Karthik Natarajan, University of Minnesota
VP Special Events: Rob Basten, Eindhoven University of Technology
Secretary: Ali Fattahi, John Hopkins University
Treasurer: Neda Mirzaeian, University of Texas at Dallas
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Yue Zhang
Visiting Research Scholar
Duke University
University Park PA
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