Abstract
In operational systems, from manufacturing, to finance, and everything in between, variation is a critical statistic that can influence things like efficiency, out of stock levels, and ultimately profits, among other things. Understanding and creating means to control variation is important to process improvement and can have an immense impact on business practices. This thesis describes an analysis of consumer demand with respect to an e-commerce grocery delivery company. More specifically, the analysis considers weekly demand fluctuations, for which a demand smoothing strategy is proposed. The proposed strategy relies on delivery incentives to help smooth demand throughout the week. To understand the effects of implementation, an analysis of the current and ideal demand state is required. The ultimate goal is to shift demand from the current state, as much as possible, to the ideal model. The required operating capacities are presented for each case. Finally, other incentive strategies are proposed that might prove beneficial to the e-commerce grocery delivery business.