Products » Here
Forecasting for eCommerce
Half of of the surveyed online shoppers find products to be out-of-stock 25% of the time. The Online Inventory Impact Survey, May 2007, BetweenMarkets
The eCommerce market is getting increasingly mature. Successful web shops now need to provide competitive prices and an attractive line of products in order to be successful. This puts their inventory management in a constant tension between being cost effective at the same time as having sufficient stock to provide a high service level.
57% of these customers typically go to a competitors’ website or retail location to find the products they seek. The Online Inventory Impact Survey, May 2007, BetweenMarkets
Operating in this tension means either the investment of a significant amount of time, experience, talent and administration to do well, or alternatively incurring increased costs, loss of service level and ultimately profits and customers if done poorly.
The bad news is, it’s not magic
A very successful e-commerce site and a strong sales team is a blessing that can be a “double edged sword.” Not having the right computer infrastructure can result in the wrong buying decisions that lead to excess inventory in the warehouse. Dan Kaplan, EzineArticles 28 October 2006
Modern statistical forecasting technologies have proven very successful in being capable of a reconciliation of this problem. Not only do they most often increase planning accuracy significantly, thus being highly cost effective, they also reduce planning complexity and time investment significantly.
Nevertheless, there are applications where forecasting is highly efficient and others where benefits are limited or special solutions are required. We therefore highly recommend that you test a prospective solution for your purposes and determine your reward to cost relation.
At Lokad, we estimate that our service is very profitable for a retailer with more than $10.000 in inventory. In case you are not sure if Lokad is worth its money for your business, just do a free trial and test us!
The good news is, it doesn’t cost your soul
The Lokad forecasting service now brings the next small revolution to eCommerce: Until now, products on the forecasting software market have been very costly and required a specially skilled operator, making it therefore not affordable for the typical online retailer . Lokad has eliminated the need for both, meaning that we do all the forecasting for you, at a fraction of the traditional cost.
Optimize and save time and money
Save time with Lokad: We generate a sound forecast for you, with our “one click” forecasting solution. A sound statistical forecast can often be used unchanged to increase the quality of replenishment and planning processes. In case you have external information not reflected in the forecast, even better, our solutions give you full flexibility to adjust the forecast in a simple Excel solution.
Save cost with Lokad: Attack one of your principle cost drivers: Capital, warehousing, handling costs, stock obsolescence, administration!
Find our more about how Lokad works on our
products page