A specific type of VMI, where the concept is taken one step further, is Vendor Owned Inventory
(VOI). Here the supplier owns the inventory until the products are sold. An example is the jewellery
chain “Icon Live” who basically display the products of different suppliers in their stores. Only when a
product is sold, the money is transferred to the supplier. From a customer’s point of view, VOI would
be even better as all the risks are with the supplier. VOI is taken too far for the relatively young retail
market in Russia, where suppliers still make the rules of transaction. This thesis will investigate if the
Russian suppliers are already willing to collaborate with retailers to manage the inventory more
efficiently.