THE IMPACT OF LOGISTICS ON RETAILING AND PHYSICAL DISTRIBUTION

Recent trends in logistics and the impact that they are having on retailing and physical distribution are described. Logistics is viewed as a holistic science, concerned with the ways in which the parts of a logistic system or supply chain are connected and integrated. The aim is to make the optimum use of resources in areas such as warehousing,transport, inventory, planning and control, while meeting externally specified service criteria. The essential techniques include various ways of classifying products and customers or retail outlets, of defining and modelling the system under study, and of analysing the flows of goods, information and money. For the future, the role of information technology is seen to be of ever increasing importance. However, emphasis will continue to be placed on the avoidance of all kinds of delay, on energy conservation and on environmental issues.