A heuristic approach based on artificial bee colony algorithm for retail shelf space optimization

Due to high product variety and changing consumer demands, shelf space is one of the most scarce resources in retail management. At this point, the efficient allocation of the limited shelf space carries critical importance for maximizing the financial performance. On the other hand, because of NP-Hard nature of the shelf space allocation problem, heuristic approaches are required to solve real world problems. In this paper, different from existing studies in the literature, a heuristic approach based on artificial bee colony algorithm is presented for shelf space allocation problem by using a model which considers the space and cross elasticity. In order to demonstrate the efficiency of the developed approach, another heuristic approach based on particle swarm optimization is proposed. The performance analysis of these approaches is realized with problem instances including different number of products, shelves and categories. Experimental results show that the developed artificial bee colony algorithm is efficient methodology through near-optimal solutions and reasonable solving time for large sized shelf space allocation problems.