Assessing the profitable conditions of online grocery using simulation

In the era of information revolution, the retailing industry has a significant opportunity to reach every single individual through Internet. Online Grocery Shopping is the new promising business. One of the major challenges facing this industry is the high cost and uncertainty associated with operations. This paper attempts to assess the profitable conditions for an E-grocery to a major retailer in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. We will develop simulation models for E-Grocery order picking and home delivery operations in order to generate several strategies and evaluate them. This study has shown that simulation is a powerful decision support tool that can assist in predicting and mimicking Online Grocery Shopping operations before implementation. A brief operational strategy is proposed based on the case study for an entrepreneurship project that is based on the principles of courage and caution to exploit the opportunities and overcome the challenges.