DEMAND FORECASTING FOR A RETAILER
Demand forecasting is a crucial task performed by competitive retailers on a regular basis to drive strategic planning in many functional areas. A retail forecasting system is based on sales history, promotional schedules and other external variables which represent rich sources of information and influence the forecasting quality. To be powerful any forecasting tool must rely on the selection of the most informative predictors, to build effective explanatory factors and generate reliable forecasts.
Business need
Rely on trustworthy sales predictions to optimally allocate workforce resources.
Challenge
Understand how sales depend from a variety of factors, such as past sales, different seasonality, marketing actions and promotions, weather conditions.
Solution
Develop a machine learning approach to forecast the hourly demand for each point of sale.
Benefits
Reduce the operational costs through accurate sales prediction. Achieve the optimal balance of workload for sales resources. Improve customer service with higher promptness. Get new insights on customers purchasing behavior to guide marketing actions.