Unveiling Shelf-life and Consumer Behavior Dynamics in Perishable Inventory Planning

Food waste is a lost value in grocery retailing. Preventive measures depend on the product’s salability period, i.e., shelf life, and the respective inventory policy. Standardizing the former is a waste prevention measure. Minimum quality acceptance criteria for the suppliers enforce such measure. Besides the salability period, inventory policy effectivity depends on demand, customer tendency to pick the freshest product in store, and replenishment constraints. This study ranks the impact of these dependencies on inventory policy effectiveness. Demand, service level, and customer-picking behavior have a notable impact. Besides efforts towards shelf-life extensions, the study suggests integrating the implications of the inventory planning policy to reduce food waste in grocery retail.