TransNFCM: Translation-Based Neural Fashion Compatibility Modeling

Identifying mix-and-match relationships between fashion items is an urgent task in a fashion e-commerce recommender system. It will significantly enhance user experience and satisfaction. However, due to the challenges of inferring the rich yet complicated set of compatibility patterns in a large e-commerce corpus of fashion items, this task is still underexplored. Inspired by the recent advances in multi-relational knowledge representation learning and deep neural networks, this paper proposes a novel Translation-based Neural Fashion Compatibility Modeling (TransNFCM) framework, which jointly optimizes fashion item embeddings and category-specific complementary relations in a unified space via an end-to-end learning manner. TransNFCM places items in a unified embedding space where a category-specific relation (category-comp-category) is modeled as a vector translation operating on the embeddings of compatible items from the corresponding categories. By this way, we not only capture the specific notion of compatibility conditioned on a specific pair of complementary categories, but also preserve the global notion of compatibility. We also design a deep fashion item encoder which exploits the complementary characteristic of visual and textual features to represent the fashion products. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first work that uses category-specific complementary relations to model the category-aware compatibility between items in a translation-based embedding space. Extensive experiments demonstrate the effectiveness of TransNFCM over the state-of-the-arts on two real-world datasets.Comment: Accepted in AAAI 2019 conferenc

Simulationsstudie zu Konsolidierungsstrategien für das Bekleidungsmanagement der Bundeswehr

Having the right article in the right place at the right time is a logistical challenge – and can be vital. In this context, the Armed Forces of Germany (Bundeswehr) assess options to make the existing supply chain for protective attire more agile using online-shopping strategies. In this setting, the supply is internal to the organization: this allows for using of different consolidation strategies and applying customers’ risk aversion strategies to the supplier in using preventive sending strategies. To explore different delivery strategies, a high-level simulation model is proposed. Results show that with the applied strategies, the delivery of fitting articles on time can be improved: preventive sending can help to have the right article in place at the time needed, and consolidation helps to reduce the number of packages sent

Why Zimbabwe needs a long term industrial strategy

This is a paper by Boston University professor Ann Seidma

The get big fast as a business model in e-commerce : a case study of Zalando

The purpose of this thesis is to identify the properties of the internet that help e-commerce companies to growth so much and so fast, along with the analysis of the Get Big Fast strategy. Such strategy exploits online business activities based on first mover advantage, allowing incumbents to preempt competition by gaining market share as fast as possible and generate positive feedbacks. This qualitative research is a case-study of Zalando, an online fashion retailer. Though initially specialized in footwear, the firm quickly broadened its product portfolio, expanded into new markets and acquired millions of clients, becoming the Europe’s market leader. Hence, this study investigates to what extent Zalando has followed the Get Big Fast principles, based on data provenient from five interviews and multiple secondary sources. The findings indicate that certain properties of the internet stimulate the scalability of business operations, such as: 1) Mediating Technology 2) Information Density 3) Universal Standards 4) Distribution Channel 5) Infinite Virtual Capacity and 6) Global Reach. Moreover, it was found that Zalando has actually pursued the Get Big Fast strategy by being an early mover in the market, applying three out of four common tactics to gain market share (capacity expansion, heavy advertising and formation of strategic alliances), following product and market development strategies and generating four positive feedbacks (economies of scale, learning effects, network effects and accumulation of complementary assets). Nevertheless, some limitations exist, including an extensive scope of research, limited amount of interviews conducted via Skype and a generalization problem.O propósito desta tese é indentificar as propriedades da Internet que ajudam as empresas de comércio electrónico a crescer tanto e tão rápido, juntamente com a análise da estratégia Get Big Fast. Esta estratégia explora a actividade económica online baseada em first mover advantage, permindo aos incumbentes antecipar os seus rivais através da rápida conquista de quota de mercado e da produção de feedbacks positivos. Este estudo qualitativo é um caso de estudo sobre a Zalando, uma loja virtual de moda. Apesar de ser inicialmente especializada em calçado, a empresa alargou rapidamente o seu portofolio de produtos, expandiu-se para novos mercados e adquiriu milhões de clientes, tornando-se no líder de mercado Europeu. Portanto, esta tese investiga em que medida a Zalando segiu os princípios Get Big Fast, de acordo com informação recolhida em cinco entrevistas e múltiplas fontes secundárias. Os resultados indicam que certas propriedades da Internet estimulam a expansibilidade do comércio online, tais como: 1) Tecnologia Mediadora 2) Densidade de Informação 3) Normas Universais 4) Canal de Distribuição 5) Capacidade Virtual Infinita 6) Alcance Global. Além disso, verificou-se que a Zalando seguiu efectivamente uma estratégia Get Big Fast por ser pioneira no mercado, aplicar três de quatro tácticas comuns destinadas à conquista de quota de mercado (expansão de capacidade, forte investimento publicitário e formação de alianças estratégicas), seguir estratégias de desenvolvimento de produtos e mercados e gerar quatro feedbacks positivos (economias de escala, efeitos de aprendizagem, efeitos de rede e acumulação de activos complementares). Contudo, existem algumas limitações, tais como o extenso âmbito de investigação, o número limitado de entrevistas realizadas por Skype e um problema de generelização

Optimal Return Period to Encourage the Online Shopping Tendency of Potential Bangladeshi Consumers

Return policy is a promising catalyst to attract shoppers towards online purchasing since it compensates the dilemma of not examining the products physically before ordering. Objective of this research is to estimate an approximate return period expected by the potential Bangladeshi online shoppers to get rid of the inertia to go for adopting such recent shopping channel. Feasibility of that return period was also analyzed from retailers’ point of view to determine an optimal value. An anonymous questionnaire was designed for data collection used in the survey conducted at random locations of Dhaka city during January and February, 2013 covering 120 participants aged above 20 years old, with Internet competency. The findings show that, a maximum of 30 days return period would be optimal for both consumers and retailers

Understanding the Latest Wave and Future Shape of Regional Trade and Cooperation Agreements in Asia

Asia accounts for more than 30% of world GDP and contributes half of the global growth in recent years. Despite high growth rates, Asia is still facing considerable socio-economic challenges. If Asia is to reemerge as a major power in the global economy and in order for the region to successfully address its own challenges and issues there is a need to make the region’s economies more integrated regionally and internationally. Following the recent global trend, Asia witnessed a wave of subregional and bilateral trade agreements. This paper analyzes the recent trends and patterns and nature of regional trade and cooperation agreements (RTCAs) in Asia and associated problems and prospects. It also attempts to understand the latest wave and the future shape of RTCAs and examines if these RTCAs provide the basis for a new Asia-wide cooperation or for the emergence of new regional trade in blocs of several subregional groupings.Asia, regional economic cooperation and integration, trade, bilateral and regional trade and cooperation agreements, ASEAN

Online retail returns management: Integration within an omni-channel distribution context

Online retail returns management: Integration within an omni-channel distribution context Purpose With the rapid growth of consumer sales being fulfilled through omni-channel retailing, this paper explores the subsequent impact on the levels of consumer retail returns experienced through online sales and the emergent returns management strategies being affected by retailers in relation to network configuration and returns management processes. Design/methodology/approach We use a mixed methods approach from an interpretive perspective. It is appropriate to describe our approach in terms of convergent design, since we have collected both qualitative and quantitative data. Findings Return rates for online retailing can be double those for stores, while return levels for ‘considered purchases’ remain similar. Our findings suggest that omni-channel returns management has yet to fully mature and we find challenges for network design and returns processes in offering a seamless solution. Research implications For practitioners we identify a number of challenges and offer insights to improve performance in returns management process, while for academic colleagues we propose a number of avenues for further research both in the qualitative and quantitative fields. Originality/value While a significant body of extant literature exists, in researching the generalized retail returns management process this paper make a contribution by addressing the emergent managerial implications of omni-channel retail returns. Keywords: retail, reverse logistics, multi-channel, omni-channel, product returns, performanc