Title: E-commerce efficient supply chain through virtual responsiveness

Authors: T. Godwin

Addresses: Operations Management and Decision Sciences, Indian Institute of Management Tiruchirappalli, Tiruchirappalli, 620024, India

Abstract: The purchase behaviour of customers has evolved with the advent of e-commerce where the waiting period tolerance is much higher than a purchase from a physical store. A 'virtual responsiveness' framework for supply chains is proposed that could possibly enable a supply chain to be both responsive and efficient for e-commerce purchases. Actual and virtual responsiveness are compared for the movement of a product from an e-tailer to customer using a simulation model. It is observed that virtual responsiveness increases order fill rate and reduces average inventory at the e-tailer while increasing the number of shipments from the supplier to e-tailer for inventory replenishments. An e-tailer that benefits not only from lagged virtual pooling of inventory but also from order delivery aggregation. The resulting cost savings could not only help in economic sustainability of supply chains but a part of it could be passed back to customers.

Keywords: supply chain responsiveness; inventory; virtual responsiveness.

DOI: 10.1504/IJBPSCM.2024.144927

International Journal of Business Performance and Supply Chain Modelling, 2024 Vol.15 No.2, pp.109 - 129

Accepted: 14 Jun 2024
Published online: 11 Mar 2025 *

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