A heuristic methodology to evaluate price discount structures from the buyer’s perspective

This paper presents an intuitive heuristic method for determining order quantities in an all-unit discount environment with budget constraints. The approach is utility-based and allows the decision maker to incorporate a number of criteria in the objective function. The model is simple to understand and can be easily implemented on a personal computer using a standard spreadsheet. The simplicity of the approach makes it an attractive decision support tool for replenishing inventory in small retail businesses such as automotive parts stores and hardware stores.