Prevedere Demand Planning for Retailers and Consumer Goods Companies
Forecasting demand has often proven difficult for business leaders in the retail and consumer goods industries—so much so that it is almost considered business as usual to not analyze, predict, and anticipate every single phenomenon that affects the business because it would be an exercise in futility. The digitization of these industries has only increased the complexities, as faster requirement needs, the multiplication of players, increasing sourcing channels, more transportation modes, and larger geographical areas involved create a complex web of variables to consider when forecasting demand.
Additionally, unforeseen global factors can throw a wrench in even the best-laid plans. This calls for a solution that can cut through the uncertainty and give retailers and consumer goods companies more accurate insights into which external factors will affect their business.
With the release of the Prevedere Demand Planning for CPG and Retail app on AppSource, retailers and consumer goods companies are now able to do the following:
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Validate their current business strategy. When a company doesn’t have concrete evidence that their strategic direction is the right one, questions get asked. Predictive analytics provides the validation needed for expansion plans or market viability. These insights guide future forecasting discussions among sales leaders, and acts as a sanity check for budget estimates with finance. Finally, predictive analytics gives leaders the vision and foresight to capitalize on industry changes before their competitors.
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Discover hidden performance drivers. Because traditional demand forecasting is frequently derived from historical or internal data, institutional beliefs among industry leaders become a guiding post for managing demand. Data-driven insights address these beliefs for better or for worse but allow for adjusting based on factual data. Future economic risks are identified, allowing enough lead time to make meaningful changes in production or resource allocation.
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Achieve a 360-degree view of future demand. Rather than reacting to demand as it occurs, companies instead act on the actual drivers of demand. They adjust marketing, sales, and resource allocation based on the latest demand sentiment. This better understanding of demand drivers helps companies make more accurate sales predictions.
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Optimize ROI on operational spend. Take intelligent action to optimize the return on capital expenditures by seeing what really needs to be done and then when and where to make those capital investments. Make promotional campaigns and pricing clear by revealing changes in the market that are critical to maximizing overall business success.
Microsoft has partnered with Prevedere to provide world-class predictive analytics and business insights for the demand forecasting needs of its consumer goods and retail customers. Prevedere has a team of data scientists, industry experts, and thought leaders who are well recognized and have been in publications such as NPR and CNBC.