Demand & Supply Planning
In industries where customer product demands are constantly changing, managing your supply chain efficiently is crucial. Understanding your customers is vital to ensure you have enough inventory to avoid stockouts while minimizing waste and maximizing revenue and cash flow. Failing to adapt to customer moods and demands quickly can be disastrous in this era of uncertainty and new disruptive competitors emerging in the market.
To avoid the pitfalls of ending up with a warehouse full of obsolete stock, most companies follow these steps, with automation integrated whenever possible:
Demand Forecasting: Analyzing sales history, including seasonality, product, and geographic clustering, to estimate demand.
Demand Planning: Taking into account future sales constraints, such as product ranging, weather, supply logistics (shipping), and store outages.
Stock Allocations: Finally, factoring in the effects of product and price promotions to determine the actual stock allocation.
