The paper investigates how inventory control of perishable items is
managed and line up some possible options of improvement. This includes a review
of relevant literature dealing with the challenges of determining ordering
policies for perishable products and a study of how the current procedures in the
retail supply chains. The goal is to find and evaluate the parameters which affect
the decision making process, when finding the optimal order quantity and
order time. The paper takes a starting point in the retail industry but links to
other industries.