Shelf-Confidence

About the Book

Out-of-Stock and unavailable! In 2020, the perfect storm hit when the COVID-19 pandemic caused shoppers to buy food, toilet paper, and other items in a panic. The result was a large number of items were suddenly out of stock, leading to more buying and an outright crisis.

This book takes readers behind the scenes of consumer products retailing, uncovering and explaining the extent, the causes, and the shopper reactions to out-of-stock items. The authors draw on their decades of experience studying the availability of consumer goods to explore how to improve service levels, slash costs, boost efficiency, and enhance customer satisfaction.

Whether you’re a manufacturer, wholesaler, retailer, retailer consultant, researcher, member of the media, or a member of a trade association, you’ll discover useful insights in this well-researched book. Shoppers will also enjoy learning the behind-the-scenes details of how items get to the shelves, and how often they are out-of-stock! 

Here is what the consumer goods industry is saying about Shelf-Confidence:

“Shelf-Confidence will provide you with an invaluable collection of documented research, tested insights and actionable conclusions from twenty years of studying the out-of-stock issue.” 
Milan Turk, Jr., former Vice President, the Procter & Gamble Company

“This practical book provides industry benchmarks and best practices to improve availability online and offline.”
Olaf Koch, former CEO Metro Group, Partner at Zintinus.

“The thorough and practical research in this book will help retailers take waste out of the supply chain, improve omni-channel product availability, and change their game.”
Sir Terry Leahy, former CEO Tesco Stores

About the Author

The Team of Prof. Daniel Corsten and Prof. Thomas Gruen have been studying availability in consumer goods markets for more than 20 years, bringing a unique blend of operations and marketing to comprehensively address issues facing retailers and manufacturers. Beginning in 2000, and supported by multiple grants from Procter & Gamble, they have been continually addressing issues of out-of-stocks in consumer goods retail. As the retail world shifted towards e-commerce, Corsten and Gruen pioneered research focusing on “online availability” examining supplier, retailer, and online shoppers’ views of online availability in the consumer goods industry. They provide a global perspective, focusing on Europe, North America, and Asia. Daniel Corsten is Professor of Operations and Technology Management at IE University’s Business School in Madrid. He obtained his MSc from University of Cologne and his PhD from University of St Gallen. Thomas W. (Tom) Gruen is Professor of Marketing at The Paul College of Business and Economics at the University of New Hampshire. He holds Ph.D., MS, and MBA degrees in Marketing from Indiana University’s Kelly School of Business. Both are distinguished academics and retail industry experts, publishing numerous reports and articles including the Harvard Business Review. They are in high demand as speakers at consumer goods industry conferences. Co-founders of the AvailabilityLab, their work reaches a world-wide audience. 4.11.22 The Team of Prof. Daniel Corsten and Prof. Thomas Gruen have been studying availability in consumer goods markets for more than 20 years, bringing a unique blend of operations and marketing to comprehensively address issues facing retailers and manufacturers. Beginning in 2000, and supported by multiple grants from Procter & Gamble, they have been continually addressing issues of out-of-stocks in consumer goods retail. As the retail world shifted towards e-commerce, Corsten and Gruen pioneered research focusing on “online availability” examining supplier, retailer, and online shoppers’ views of online availability in the consumer goods industry. They provide a global perspective, focusing on Europe, North America, and Asia. Daniel Corsten is Professor of Operations and Technology Management at IE University’s Business School in Madrid. He obtained his MSc from University of Cologne and his PhD from University of St Gallen. Thomas W. (Tom) Gruen is Professor of Marketing at The Paul College of Business and Economics at the University of New Hampshire. He holds Ph.D., MS, and MBA degrees in Marketing from Indiana University’s Kelly School of Business. Both are distinguished academics and retail industry experts, publishing numerous reports and articles including the Harvard Business Review. They are in high demand as speakers at consumer goods industry conferences. Co-founders of the AvailabilityLab, their work reaches a world-wide audience. 4.27.22 Thomas W. Gruen and Daniel Corsten have been studying availability in consumer goods markets for more than twenty years, bringing a blend of operations and marketing to comprehensively address issues facing retailers and manufacturers. Supported by multiple grants from The Procter & Gamble Company, they have been addressing issues of out-of-stocks in consumer goods retail for decades. As the retail world shifted toward e-commerce, they pioneered research focusing on online availability. They provide a global perspective, focusing on Europe, North America, and Asia. Both are distinguished academics and retail industry experts. Through publishing, speaking, and consulting, their work reaches a worldwide audience.