Forecasting During Fluctuating Supply Chain Conditions: Part Two

Posted October 12, 2022

The Essential Tools for Forecasting During Fluctuating Supply Chain Conditions: Part Two

Part Two: Integrating a Forecasting and Demand Planning Solution

Once you have successfully implemented a warehouse management system like LISA WMS it is often a good idea to investigate advanced demand forecasting solutions. N’ware Strategic Partner Netstock excels in this area with their Precision Forecasting and Demand Planning solution, which enables smart forecasting by product, channel, customer, and location. Better forecasting ability can help your business capture its full sales potential and reduce unnecessary inventory to free up working capital.

The importance of demand planning is crucial to the success of your business and more specifically, to retaining your customers. In a series of surveys done by Netstock, consumers were questioned on stock out occurrences and how their buying decision is affected when confronted with one.

Study shows that 43% of consumers indicated they are more likely to ditch products after two stock outs.
65% of consumers said they would try a brand-new brand because an item was out of stock.
82% of respondents who shopped exclusively or mostly online experienced stock-outs as opposed to the 67% who primarily shopped in-person.
When asked about experiencing a second in-store stock out 42% of respondents said they would buy a comparable brand.

To mitigate the supply chain risks facing your business in such challenging times, a forecasting and demand planning solution is essential to identifying the key assets for continued growth. With these features your supply chain can adapt to any economic environment that challenges your business.

Powerful forecasting: AI-powered forecasting models informed by the variables that impact your supply chain. Smart analytics engines continually improve your forecast accuracy over time.
Smart demand management: Review or adjust forecasts for individual SKUs, or any level of product or channel aggregation. Factor in lost sales, promotions, and other non-recurring events to produce better revenues, inventory, procurement, and manufacturing plans.
Product prioritization: Identify the top items, locations, or customers that require attention – leveraging unique and automated product categorizations to help you prioritize high-demand and high-profitability items.
Automated planning & ordering: Automatically generate inventory plans and product orders, directly porting order information back to your ERP system.
Integrated sales & operations planning: Centralized visibility and purpose-built functionality allows you to synchronize sales forecasts with inventory, procurement, operations, and finance teams.
What-if planning: With visibility of forecasting inputs, see the direct impact of different “what-if” scenarios and create strategic plans for best and worst cases to maintain inventory and fill rates in the face of dynamic demand and supply lead time.
Supplier risk & buffer stock: Access clear supplier risk metrics and dive deep into supplier performance to understand supply variables and optimize buffer stock based on results.

With the diverse feature set offered by the Precision Forecasting and Demand Planning solution, you can ensure your business is well equipped to take all supply chain conditions head on. By enabling your business with seamless software, you can use your money in a smarter way by investing in the items and quantities that make sense according to the forecasts, maximizing your profitability.

Like Neotek, you can make empty shelves and dust covered boxes a thing of the past. With optimal inventory levels taking stock outs and overstocks out of the picture, your customers will remain satisfied, and you just might find something similar to Neotek’s $130,000 in cost savings as well. You may also notice that employee productivity is at an all-time high thanks to your automated paperless processes that keep your business running at highly efficient levels.

If you are ready to take your business to the next level and avoid everyday headaches like the ones outlined in this article, take the first important step by implementing a fully-integrated warehouse management solution for your business. N’ware and LISA WMS are ready for you.