Retail shelf management means cost-efficiently matching retail operations with consumer demand.

As consumers expect high product availability and low prices, and retailers are constantly increasing product variety and striving towards high service levels, the complexity of managing retail business and its operations are rocketing.

Consumer demand literally meets the retailers offering at the point of sales – at the shelf. Retailers need to match consumer demand with shelf supply by balancing variety (number of products), service levels (number of items of a product), and optimizing demand and profit via carefully calibrated prices.

As a result, the core strategic decisions a retailer must take involve assortment sizes (listing), shelf space management (facing), replenishing, and pricing.