Title: Sales representatives' allocation in a retail shop

Authors: Tae Hyun Kim, Sang Chan Park

Addresses: Department of Industrial Engineering, Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology, 373-1 Gusung-dong, Yusong-gu, Daejeon 305-701, Korea. Department of Industrial Engineering, Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology, 373-1 Gusung-dong, Yusong-gu, Daejeon 305-701, Korea

Abstract: The four major entities to focus in the service management field are facilities, server/agents, customers, and services. Among these, studies of facilities, customers and services have been carried out for a long time, but not many studies of server/agents exist. To remedy this, this paper focuses on sales representative agents| allocation in a retail shop. More specifically, it is a study on how to effectively allocate them in a shop to vigorously promote sales. We analyse the individual sales data for every brand and department for a specific period in time. The sales data consists of the sale quantity and the amount of sales along with the correspondences. We cluster them to distinguish the good agent groups from the others. Then, we identify the best agent (sales representative) for each brand and department. Allocating sales representatives to correct brands will contribute to increasing the efficiency and effectiveness of sales efforts.

Keywords: retail shop; sales representative; service management.

DOI: 10.1504/IJMTM.2003.002529

International Journal of Manufacturing Technology and Management, 2003 Vol.5 No.1/2, pp.46-51

Published online: 23 Jul 2003 *

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