Consumer value and satisfaction are fundamental to build consumer loyalty (to the brand) and shopper loyalty (to the store) and to increase sales and category profitability; a powerful way to create value and satisfaction is to keep shelves fully ranged (Roland Berger, 2002), but Out Of Stocks (OOS) are still a frequent phenomenon: it amounted to 12,2% in the ‘60s (Progressive Grocer, 1968) and amounts to 5-10% nowadays (PwC Consulting, 2002).
Retailers and manufacturers are concentrating theirs efforts to avoid OOS and their negative implications, classifiable as tangible (losses in category sales, Campo et al., in progress, and therefore in turnover, PwC Consulting, 2002) and intangible (spoiled image and decreased brandand store loyalty, Zinn and Liu, 2001).