A new model and a hyper-heuristic approach for two-dimensional shelf space allocation

Citation

Bai R, van Woensel T, Kendall G & Burke E (2013) A new model and a hyper-heuristic approach for two-dimensional shelf space allocation. 4OR: A Quarterly Journal of Operations Research, 11 (1), pp. 31-55. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10288-012-0211-2

Abstract
In this paper, we propose a two-dimensional shelf space allocation model. The second dimension stems from the height of the shelf. This results in an integer nonlinear programming model with a complex form of objective function. We propose a multiple neighborhood approach which is a hybridization of a simulated annealing algorithm with a hyper-heuristic learning mechanism. Experiments based on empirical data from both real-world and artificial instances show that the shelf space utilization and the resulting sales can be greatly improved when compared with a gradient method. Sensitivity analysis on the input parameters and the shelf space show the benefits of the proposed algorithm both in sales and in robustness.

Keywords
Shelf space allocation; Two-dimensional; Retail; Multi-neighborhood search; Hyper-heuristics; 90B80 Discrete Location and Assignment; Information technology Management;

Journal
4OR: A Quarterly Journal of Operations Research: Volume 11, Issue 1