The next best thing to a crystal ball? Demand planning
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.
The power of prediction
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.
