Subject Overview

An advanced study of the end-to-end flow of retail merchandise, information and funds across suppliers, distribution networks, stores, digital channels and customers. The subject integrates established supply chain principles with omnichannel fulfilment, analytics, automation, AI, sustainability, resilience and strategic governance.

Learning Goal

Enable students to design, manage and improve responsive, cost-efficient and responsible retail supply chains using appropriate models, data, technologies and managerial decision frameworks.

Syllabus

1. Foundations of Retail Logistics and Supply Chain Management

Learning Objective: Explain retail supply chain structures, terminology, flows, stakeholders, service–cost trade-offs, value creation, total landed cost and the distinctive logistics requirements of retail formats and product categories.

Category: foundation

2. Retail Supply Chain Strategy and Operating Models

Learning Objective: Align logistics capabilities with retail strategy using efficiency–responsiveness, lean, agile and leagile models; evaluate push, pull, postponement, decoupling points, vertical integration and third-party logistics choices.

Category: core

3. Demand Forecasting and Merchandise Planning

Learning Objective: Apply qualitative, time-series and causal forecasting; assess forecast error, seasonality, promotions and product life cycles; connect assortment, category, open-to-buy and merchandise plans with supply decisions.

Category: core

4. Inventory Management and Replenishment

Learning Objective: Use ABC/XYZ classification, EOQ, reorder-point, safety-stock, service-level, newsvendor and multi-echelon concepts; manage cycle stock, markdowns, shrinkage, perishability and automated store replenishment.

Category: core

5. Sales and Operations Planning and Collaborative Coordination

Learning Objective: Integrate demand, supply, capacity and financial plans through S&OP/IBP, CPFR, vendor-managed inventory and exception management; diagnose the bullwhip effect and improve cross-functional and interorganizational coordination.

Category: core

6. Retail Supply Chain Network Design

Learning Objective: Design supplier, distribution-centre, fulfilment-centre, dark-store and store networks using centre-of-gravity, capacity, flow and total-cost models; evaluate centralization, localization, outsourcing and facility-location decisions.

Category: application

7. Procurement, Sourcing and Supplier Management

Learning Objective: Develop sourcing strategies, supplier segmentation and selection systems; evaluate contracts, negotiation, landed cost, private-label sourcing, global trade, supplier performance, compliance and relationship governance.

Category: core

8. Warehousing, Distribution Centres and Materials Handling

Learning Objective: Design receiving, put-away, storage, slotting, picking, packing, cross-docking and dispatch processes; assess layouts, labour productivity, cold chains, packaging, automation, robotics and warehouse management systems.

Category: application

9. Transportation and Freight Management

Learning Objective: Select transport modes, carriers and routes using cost, speed, reliability and sustainability criteria; manage consolidation, fleet operations, freight rates, load planning, international documentation and transportation management systems.

Category: application

10. Omnichannel Fulfilment, E-commerce and Last-Mile Logistics

Learning Objective: Design integrated inventory and order fulfilment across stores and digital channels, including ship-from-store, click-and-collect, micro-fulfilment, marketplaces and delivery platforms; manage last-mile economics and customer experience.

Category: contemporary

11. Reverse Logistics, Returns and Circular Retail

Learning Objective: Manage returns authorization, inspection, disposition, repair, resale, recycling and product recalls; reduce return costs and fraud while applying closed-loop supply chain and circular-economy principles.

Category: application

12. Retail Supply Chain Analytics and Decision Models

Learning Objective: Build KPI systems and dashboards covering availability, fill rate, OTIF, inventory turns, GMROI, forecast accuracy, logistics cost and perfect orders; apply optimization, simulation, scenario analysis and data-driven decision methods.

Category: advanced

13. Digital Supply Chains, Automation and Artificial Intelligence

Learning Objective: Evaluate ERP, WMS, TMS, OMS, POS, RFID, IoT, control towers, cloud platforms and digital twins; apply AI and machine learning to forecasting, replenishment, routing, anomaly detection and decision support while addressing data quality and human oversight.

Category: contemporary

14. Risk, Resilience, Sustainability and Governance

Learning Objective: Identify operational, geopolitical, cyber, climate and supplier risks; develop continuity, diversification and resilience plans; govern emissions, labour standards, traceability, privacy, AI use, ethical sourcing and regulatory compliance.

Category: strategic

15. Supply Chain Performance, Transformation and Future Directions

Learning Objective: Use SCOR, benchmarking, cost-to-serve and maturity frameworks to diagnose performance and lead transformation; develop business cases, implementation roadmaps and change leadership responses to autonomous logistics, predictive networks and evolving retail models.

Category: strategic