Digital model-driven physical retail and supply chain management (DM-Retail)

Research Project, 2016 – 2018

The project aims at identifying and describing opportunities in retailing supply chains for introducing digital modeling of consumers and products to increase value adding and efficiency in operations. The project investigates operational practices for how to use  digital modeling (a new technology) in physical retail shops to add more value and create new services for the consumer, and how such practices combining of physical and digital models affects the requirements on supply chain design and execution. The digital model based product fitting concept introduced in the project and its potential for physical retailing, and how it would transform the supply chain is a new research area in operations and supply chain management.

This project is cross-disciplinary design science research. A mix of conceptual and empirical case-based analyses are conducted. From a theoretical perspective the project explores how physical retail can gain an advantage over purely web-based retailing. The project evaluates existing solutions incorporating digital product and customer models to understand how to design effective solutions that contribute to improved competitiveness and profitability of physical retail businesses. From the practical perspective the project is developing evidence based operational principles, management tools and processes for facilitating the introduction of a new technology in physical retail and retail supply chains.