Contemporary IT-Assisted Retail Management

Abstract

The chapter describes the consequences of the use of IT in the field of retailing. We will discuss the area at matter beyond the perspective of retail marketing and logistics strategies. In particular we show, how IT is used to reengineer retail formats in order to allow customized shopping experience and how new retail channels such as Internet-based retail formats could be used to address new customer groups. IT in retail logistics help to implement just-in-time-oriented demand synchronized delivery systems. In such systems cross docking operations are performed to eliminate inventory in the channel. The basic notions of the presented ideas are applied to a case company, which is a leading retailer and belongs to the German Rewe Group.