The temporary sale problem with unknown termination date

Temporary sales are quite prevalent in practice due to the changing power patterns between retailers and manufacturers, which has tended to shift sales promotion policies away from advertising and more towards price promotions. This paper models a common practical situation not covered in the literature, namely the familiar ‘while supply lasts’ case, where the ending date of the discount is unknown. This is done through the introduction of a decision variable – a reordering point inventory level, which triggers the need for a new order, if the existing inventory level does not exceed such a point.