What is demand planning?
The next best thing to a crystal ball? Demand planning.
Demand planning (or demand forecasting) is the activity of analysing historic customer sales to forecast future activity.
It is a valuable tool for both goods and service industries, helping ensure the right stock or resources are in place to meet upcoming customer demand.
Demand planning should not be carried out in isolation. We can help.
The power of prediction.
A forecast will never be perfect (surprises are a part of life), but predictive models and demand plans can still help us make more informed decisions. As guiding tools they can provide huge benefits to every step of the supply chain, from manufacture to warehouse operations, transport and logistics.
We can carry out demand planning by using data held on past sales, easily accessed from a variety of sales software. If necessary, we can also split out and drill down into different types of sales, analysing demand profiles from e-commerce and physical locations separately.
Some characteristics of sales that we might look at include:
- Velocity: fastest and slowest selling lines / categories may require different solutions.
- Trending / growth: look at recent historic sales.
- Seasonality: look ‘forward’ to sold quantity in the coming months of the previous year to pick up seasonal lines.
- Volatility: how ‘spiky’ are sales?
- Shelf-life: do any of your products have expiration dates? Particularly important when it comes to the storage of food.
Related Services
Business Intelligence
From business data to business insight. Business intelligence aims to interpret large datasets and present actionable information.
Demand Planning
Demand forecasting is a critical business requirement to support a range of business functions, including logistics, production and finance.
Warehouse Automation
Warehouse automation continues to transform the logistics and supply chain industry.
Statistical Modelling
Statistical analysis encompasses the collection, organization, analysis, interpretation, and presentation of data.
Our Latest Demand planning PROJECTS
Growth Forecasting for a National Pharmacy
Optimising E-commerce Returns for a Global Fashion Retailer
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