SMALL DATA : LESSONS FROM THE CONSUMER GOODS RE- TAIL INDUSTRY
JONATHAN FRANCX & GUIDO ROJER , JR . MSC
One of the many lessons learned from the aftermath of the economic recession of 2008 , came from the consumer good retail industry . The entire industry depends on the disposable income of middle class spenders , which were particularly affected in these past years . Supermarkets especially felt the crisis due to the fact that most consumers thought twice about every penny spent . In a recovering economy , supermarkets won ’ t sell more than is absolutely needed , seeing as the majority of people can ’ t afford spending money on excessive and luxury items . An important step in this process is to make sure all products are available for clients to purchase . If due to unavailability of specific products customers are unable to buy the products they are looking for , both the retailers and suppliers risk parts of their business . A study done based on the financial crisis of 2008 A study done based on the financial crisis of 2008 by Che , Chen , and Chen ( 2012 ) found that : “… when product unavailability due to OOS is not taken into account consumer reactions tend to be underestimated .” which is an example that highlights the influence OOS has on supermarkets even though the problem of stock outs has existed for much longer than this period . An Out- Of-Stock ( OOS ) or the lack of On-Shelf-Availability ( OSA ) of products in supermarkets can lead to the demise of the business . Customers will be unable to buy products which are not on stock , or if they are on stock but not on the shelves . This will result in lost sales and lost future business if they decide to substitute supermarkets permanently .
This study is a qualitative study into the workings of supermarkets on the island of Curaçao . The managers of different stores on the island were surveyed , in order to reveal their strategies towards maintaining high OSA and low OOS . We used Creswell ’ s data analysis spiral and colorcoding in order to analyse the data gained from these interviews . There are two accurate solutions in order to There
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