Recent developments in mobile technologies and associated economies of scale via mature manufacturing processes have made possible the construction of pervasive systems in specific application areas. In this paper we discuss a novel type of retail service based on wireless and mobile technologies for the automated replenishment of home product supplies. The primary motivation for this work is the optimization of the efficiency and effectiveness of the fast moving consumer goods (FMCG) supply chain: rather than terminating the supply chain at the supermarket checkout, it is now possible to extend its reach in the consumer home. This situation has significant effects both on the consumer perception of the shopping experience and on the internal as well as the intra-organisational business processes of the supply chain partners. In this paper, first we discuss in detail our motivation for the development of this service architecture and then describe its functionality in terms of user ap...
George Roussos, Panos Kourouthanasis, Eugene A. Gr