Purpose For traditional grocery retailers, the growing importance of online sales means creating new logistics models for omni-channel (OC) management. Due to these transformational changes, retail research and practice are lacking a comprehensive view on integrated fulfilment and distribution concepts for home and store deliveries as they have evolved recently. This paper develops a planning framework for last mile order fulfilment in OC grocery retailing and discusses the advantages and disadvantages of different design concepts. Design/methodology/approach The findings were developed and evaluated by means of explorative interviews with grocery retail and logistics experts. Additionally, key literature on last mile order fulfilment and retail supply chain management was reviewed to supplement the integrated OC grocery operations planning framework. Findings OC logistics planning can be structured into back-end fulfilment (e.g. warehouse and in-store picking) and last mile distribution concepts (e.g. attended and unattended home delivery). The design choices depend on country specifics (e.g. population density), retailer specifics (e.g. capability for cross-channel process integration) and customer behaviour (e.g. possibility of unattended home delivery). The application areas and their contextual factors are discussed for each design parameter. Practical implications The last mile fulfilment options identified can be applied to pinpoint the necessary steps for further optimizing OC integration. Grocers can gain insights into current fulfilment concepts used in different contexts. This architecture also forms the foundation for further research on decision support systems. Originality/value The coherent planning framework summarizes the general design options for last mile order fulfilment arising from new requirements for OC fulfilment.

The growing importance of online sales means that traditional bricksand-mortar retailers need to create new distribution systems to serve customers through multiple channels. Building an effective and efficient omni-channel (OC) distribution system, however, leads to multiple challenges. The questions arise for example, from where online orders should be fulfilled, how delivery and return processes can be organized, and which context-specific OC distribution systems exist. Answering these questions retail research and practice require an overall view of the distribution concepts for direct-to-customer and store deliveries in OC retailing, including the associated return processes. This overall picture is still missing in the literature. We conducted an exploratory study to close this observable gap in the literature. This exploratory study is based on semi-structured interviews with major OC retailers in German-speaking countries and was complemented by market data research and discussions with further experts in the field of OC retailing. Based on the results of the study, the forward distribution system in OC retailing is characterized by the sources (supplier DCs, retailer DCs, stores) and destinations (home, store) which describe the options for store delivery, home delivery, and store pickup. Return processes are likewise characterized by the sources (store, home) and destinations (store, DC, return center). This framework forms the foundation for analyzing contextual criteria, identifying when the different conceptual designs are applied, determining industry-specific characteristics, 123Business Research (2016) 9:255-296 DOI 10.1007 and illustrating ways to further advance OC retailing. The present paper, therefore, contributes to the literature in three main areas: (1) it identifies and systematizes the forward and backward concepts in OC retailing, (2) it reveals application and development areas for achieving excellence in OC fulfillment and logistics, and (3) shows the need for developing sector-and context-specific OC distribution systems.

Purpose -The purpose of this paper is to develop a holistic operations planning framework for grocery retailing. The authors aim to identify, describe and structure coherent demand and supply chain (SC) planning problems in a comprehensive architecture. Design/methodology/approach -The authors reviewed key literature on retail SC management and sales planning. This built a foundation for the development of an integrated operations planning framework. The findings were evaluated through discussions with retailers and communications with retail planners, including personal interviews with 28 leading European grocery retailers and with people in related positions from the consumer goods industry and consultancies. Findings -The core of this paper is the development of a coherent demand and SC planning matrix. It demonstrates planning interdependencies and defines a framework for retail operations. The grocery planning framework integrates retail specifics, as well as hierarchical and sequential aspects of decision making. That is why this planning architecture also forms the foundation for research and development of advanced decision support systems. Practical implications -Planning tasks are identified in interrelated planning modules permitting coordinated and decentralised decision making, which is necessary for operational and complexity reasons. The planning framework assists retail planners in understanding their decision problem from a comprehensive perspective. Better coordination of different modules and further development of retail-tailored analytical models will improve planning quality. Originality/value -This is the first paper that structures retail demand and SC planning questions coherently in one framework, matching demand and supply from a long-to short-term perspective and from supplier to customer.

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