Food waste has become a disaster of global proportion that the world can no longer turn a blind eye to. This paper aims to reduce food waste at the retail level of the food supply chain by recommending and quantifying the effects of current technology that can be implemented in traditional supermarkets. This research recommends that retailers implement electronic shelf labels in stores and employ dynamic pricing of perishable products, leading to reduction of food waste. No prior research had considered the primary goal of reducing food waste while preserving retailer profit through technological implementation. This paper quantifies the effects of implementing this technology and provides economic justification of the required investment through the calculation of profitability metrics and discussion of environmental regulations retailers will soon have to abide by. Our results indicate, even in the most conservative of scenarios, that the payback period for full implementation of electronic shelf labels will be less than or slightly over one year and the return on investment is high in all situations discussed. Sensitivity analyses of labor costs, revenue, and profitability ratios are illustrated to provide a full breadth of these results.
","abstract_html":"<p>Food waste has become a disaster of global proportion that the world can no longer turn a blind eye to. This paper aims to reduce food waste at the retail level of the food supply chain by recommending and quantifying the effects of current technology that can be implemented in traditional supermarkets. This research recommends that retailers implement electronic shelf labels in stores and employ dynamic pricing of perishable products, leading to reduction of food waste. No prior research had considered the primary goal of reducing food waste while preserving retailer profit through technological implementation. This paper quantifies the effects of implementing this technology and provides economic justification of the required investment through the calculation of profitability metrics and discussion of environmental regulations retailers will soon have to abide by. Our results indicate, even in the most conservative of scenarios, that the payback period for full implementation of electronic shelf labels will be less than or slightly over one year and the return on investment is high in all situations discussed. Sensitivity analyses of labor costs, revenue, and profitability ratios are illustrated to provide a full breadth of these results.</p>","abstract_has_math":false,"creators":["Harriman, Cassandra"],"institution":null,"degree_name":"MS in Industrial Engineering","degree_level":null,"degree_discipline":"Industrial and Manufacturing Engineering","degree_department":null,"school":null,"contributors":["Tali Freed","Industrial and Manufacturing Engineering","College of Engineering"],"advisors":[],"committee_chairs":[],"committee_members":[],"year":2021,"date_issued":"2021-06-01T07:00:00Z","date_published":"2021-06-01T07:00:00Z","updated_at":"2026-07-24T01:32:42Z","subjects":["Dynamic Pricing","Food Waste","Food Supply Chain","Electronic Shelf Label","Industrial Engineering"],"languages":[],"rights":[],"rights_urls":[],"identifier_entries":[{"key":"dc:identifier","label":"Identifier","values":["10.15368/theses.2021.105"],"render_values":[{"text":"10.15368/theses.2021.105","href":"https://doi.org/10.15368/theses.2021.105","code":true}]}]},"links":{"outbound_url":"https://digitalcommons.calpoly.edu/theses/2608","outbound_label":"Repository record","outbound_source":"dc:identifier"},"metadata_groups":[{"id":"people","label":"People","entries":[{"key":"dc:contributor","label":"Contributor","values":["Tali Freed","Industrial and Manufacturing Engineering","College of Engineering"]},{"key":"dc:creator","label":"Author","values":["Harriman, Cassandra"]}]},{"id":"academic_context","label":"Academic Context","entries":[{"key":"dc:date.available","label":"Dc Date Available","values":["2021-06-11T07:00:00Z"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_discipline","label":"Discipline","values":["Industrial and Manufacturing Engineering"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_name","label":"Degree Name","values":["MS in Industrial Engineering"]}]},{"id":"subjects_keywords","label":"Subjects and Keywords","entries":[{"key":"dc:subject","label":"Dc Subject","values":["Dynamic Pricing","Food Waste","Food Supply Chain","Electronic Shelf Label","Industrial Engineering"]}]},{"id":"identifiers","label":"Identifiers","entries":[{"key":"dc:identifier","label":"Identifier","values":["https://digitalcommons.calpoly.edu/theses/2608","10.15368/theses.2021.105"]}]},{"id":"additional","label":"Additional Metadata","entries":[{"key":"dc:description.abstract","label":"Abstract","values":["Food waste has become a disaster of global proportion that the world can no longer turn a blind eye to. This paper aims to reduce food waste at the retail level of the food supply chain by recommending and quantifying the effects of current technology that can be implemented in traditional supermarkets. This research recommends that retailers implement electronic shelf labels in stores and employ dynamic pricing of perishable products, leading to reduction of food waste. No prior research had considered the primary goal of reducing food waste while preserving retailer profit through technological implementation. This paper quantifies the effects of implementing this technology and provides economic justification of the required investment through the calculation of profitability metrics and discussion of environmental regulations retailers will soon have to abide by. Our results indicate, even in the most conservative of scenarios, that the payback period for full implementation of electronic shelf labels will be less than or slightly over one year and the return on investment is high in all situations discussed. Sensitivity analyses of labor costs, revenue, and profitability ratios are illustrated to provide a full breadth of these results.
"]},{"key":"dc:title","label":"Title","values":["Perishable Food Waste Reduction Through Technological Implementation at the Retail Level of the Food Supply Chain"]}]}],"canonical_facts":{"dc:contributor":["Tali Freed","Industrial and Manufacturing Engineering","College of Engineering"],"dc:creator":["Harriman, Cassandra"],"dc:date.available":["2021-06-11T07:00:00Z"],"dc:description.abstract":["Food waste has become a disaster of global proportion that the world can no longer turn a blind eye to. This paper aims to reduce food waste at the retail level of the food supply chain by recommending and quantifying the effects of current technology that can be implemented in traditional supermarkets. This research recommends that retailers implement electronic shelf labels in stores and employ dynamic pricing of perishable products, leading to reduction of food waste. No prior research had considered the primary goal of reducing food waste while preserving retailer profit through technological implementation. This paper quantifies the effects of implementing this technology and provides economic justification of the required investment through the calculation of profitability metrics and discussion of environmental regulations retailers will soon have to abide by. Our results indicate, even in the most conservative of scenarios, that the payback period for full implementation of electronic shelf labels will be less than or slightly over one year and the return on investment is high in all situations discussed. Sensitivity analyses of labor costs, revenue, and profitability ratios are illustrated to provide a full breadth of these results.
"],"dc:identifier":["https://digitalcommons.calpoly.edu/theses/2608","10.15368/theses.2021.105"],"dc:subject":["Dynamic Pricing","Food Waste","Food Supply Chain","Electronic Shelf Label","Industrial Engineering"],"dc:title":["Perishable Food Waste Reduction Through Technological Implementation at the Retail Level of the Food Supply Chain"],"thesis:degree_discipline":["Industrial and Manufacturing Engineering"],"thesis:degree_name":["MS in Industrial Engineering"]},"updated_at":"2026-07-24T01:32:42Z"}