Category: Demand planning

Seasonality, price fluctuation, and changing economic conditions, oh my!

How would you like to see nearly a three percent increase in annual sales without running a single promotion or introducing a new product?

What do dishwashers, calculators, and chatbots have in common? All are automated solutions to problems that humans use to solve manually. 

How often have you heard someone in your industry say that they’ve considered automating parts of their inventory process, but they don’t trust a program to make the right call?

After all, human eyes will always be better than any demand planning software, right?

Not quite.

Human error is actually reported as a primary contributor to most accidents and disasters occurring across industries. 

In other words, your next inventory-related disaster is far more likely to be caused by a human misreading a spreadsheet or miskeying a number than it is to be...

Would you like to hear a one-word horror story? Stockout. 

Just hearing that word can make retailers shiver—and for good reason. Stockouts can cost your business hundreds of thousands of dollars every year. The good news? These struggles are preventable: Three-quarters of all stockouts are caused by inventory planning issues. 

Imagine your business is an orchestra. Your sales, warehousing, suppliers, and more are all different instruments. Stockouts (and other inventory woes) happen when your departments play in different keys. Your business can only...

How important is demand planning to the success of your business?

Most supply chain management professionals would probably say between ‘vital’ and ‘critical.’

Over half of retail supply chain executives report that demand forecasting is a significant area for investment and opportunity. 

Sometimes, meeting these demands can feel like you’re a fortune-teller. It’s challenging to avoid stockouts and other inventory issues when customer needs are constantly in flux and