Impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on grocery retail operations: An analytical model

Occupational pressures of frontline workers enforcing COVID-19 pandemic measures in Ontario and Quebec, Canada

BACKGROUND

During the COVID-19 pandemic, low-wage public-facing frontline workers (FLWs), such as grocery store clerks, were required to monitor retail customers and enforce COVID-19 protocols.

OBJECTIVE

This analysis aimed to examine FLWs experiences of enforcing COVID-19 pandemic measures.

METHODS

Between September 2020 and March 2021, in Ontario and Quebec (Canada), we conducted in-depth interviews about customer-related work and health risks with FLWs who interacted with the public (n = 40) and their supervisors (n = 16). Using a lens of situational analysis, verbatim transcripts were coded according to recurring topics.

RESULTS

We found that enforcing public health measures placed already-precarious workers in difficult occupational health circumstances. Enforcement of measures created additional workplace responsibilities, stress, and exposed them to potentially negative reactions from customers.

CONCLUSIONS

Interventions to better support these workers and improved methods of protection are discussed.

Operational planning for public holidays in grocery retailing - managing the grocery retail rush

Public holiday weeks cause specific challenges in grocery retailing as sales are raising and working days for logistics processes are reduced. The paper analyzes the operational planning challenges and solutions for demand planning and disposition as well as for warehouse and transportation management of grocery retailers in public holiday seasons. A total of 22 top managers representing 20 sales lines of 17 of the top 30 grocery retailers in Germany participated in the study. Semi-structured, face-to-face interviews with logistics managers were conducted and analyzed. Uncertainties and missing resources can be identified as the two main challenges of public holiday seasons in grocery retailing. Retailers implement numerous measures that can be summarized in three categories, i.e., the adjustment of workload profiles, the adaptation of resources and modifying processes. Literature has so far considered public holidays only to a limited extent, e.g., as a parameter in forecasting models or for the application of marketing instruments. This study is the first developing a framework and providing insights into operational planning in grocery retailing.

Product availability and stockpiling in times of pandemic: causes of supply chain disruptions and preventive measures in retailing

The coronavirus pandemic in 2020 brought global supply chain disruptions for retailers responding to the increased demand of consumers for popular merchandise. There is a need to adapt the existing supply chain models to describe the disruptions and offer the potential measures that businesses and governments can take to minimize adverse effects from a retail logistics perspective. This research analyses the possible reasons for supply and demand disruptions using a mathematical model of a retail supply chain with uncertain lead times and stochastic demand of strategic consumers. The established concepts of supply chain management are applied for the model analysis: multi-period inventory policies, bullwhip effect, and strategic consumers. The impact of the pandemic outbreaks in the model is two-fold: increased lead-time uncertainty affects supply, while consumer stockpiling affects demand. Consumers' rational hoarding and irrational panic buying significantly increase retailers' costs due to higher safety stock and demand variability. The bullwhip effect further exacerbates the disruption. The research contributes to the recent literature on business response to supply chain disruptions by developing a model where both retailers and consumers decide on the order quantity and reorder point during a pandemic outbreak. Buying limits, continuous inventory review, government rationing, substitutability, and omnichannel fulfillment are the measures that can limit the damage of supply chain disruptions from stockpiling during the pandemic. Effective communication and price and availability guarantees can mitigate the negative impact of panic buying.