Products » Here
Forecasting for Retail
This is the kind of technology that has allowed Wal-Mart to dominate the market so much, we have all heard about or seen how Wal-Mart's supply chain has enabled it to have less inventory on hand at any given time, signifigantly dropping the prices of the goods that it sells for not having to pay to have things only sit on the shelves. KillerStartup.com, August 13th, 2007
Retailers 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.
If you keep too much inventory, your expenses go up. But if you reduce too much, you have nothing to sell.
On average, inventory looses about 30% of its value over the course of the year, and in many areas this can be much higher.
Operating in this field of tension means either the investment of a significant amount of time, experience, talent and administration to do well, or alternatively the incurrence of increased costs, loss of service level and ultimately profits if done poorly.
The bad news is, it’s not magic
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.
The good news is, it doesn’t cost your soul
The Lokad forecasting service now brings the next small revolution to supply chain management: Until now, products on the forecasting software market have been very costly and required a very skilled operator in order to work to their full potential. 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
Companies who say, “for many years we managed to control our inventory the way we do it now,” fail to realize that what worked in the past will not work in the rapid changes of today’s business environment. Dan Kaplan, EzineArticles 28 October 2006
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.