Distribution in the large-scale retail trade industry: requirements for vehicle routing problems

The purpose of this paper is to outline and establish the characteristics and requirements of Vehicle Routing Problem (VRP) in the Large-Scale Retail Trade (LSRT) industry. Characteristics and operational constraints of the VRP for the LSRT industry are described, after analysing some variants of the state-of-the-art models in the present literature. Successively, a comprehensive definition for this specific class of problems is provided, along with a taxonomy and a new VRP formulation. The research reveals that state-of-the-art VRP models often fail to thoroughly describe real-world LSRT instances, leading to seldomly applicable models. For this reason, the paper provides guidance to design and apply a model for solving real-world transportation problems in the LSRT industry. Hence, our paper establishes requirements and criteria for obtaining a VRP applicable to real-world instances of the LSRT industry.