SALES PLANNING
The shelves are full! And nothing is left to be desired!
Full shelves in the supermarket are something we all take for granted. Behind it is a complex process – sales planning. It would be impossible to manage without AI!
Today’s shoppers expect everything they need to be in stock. When friends or relatives come to visit at short notice, and the food you need is missing, you can usually count on finding the products you need in the supermarket. However, few people think about how this is possible, what the challenges are in the supply chain for each product, and how much planning is required to keep the supply chain running smoothly. Demand planning answers all these questions. And because it has to answer so many questions at once, it cannot do it without intelligent software based on AI.
Complexity in planning
Sales planning is a fundamental part of the supply chain, determining how much merchandise is likely to be sold in a given region at a given time. A good calculation of sales figures is an important prerequisite to ensure that everything is in stock at all times. For example, supply shortages can occur if planners set sales figures too low. If they are set too high, inventory levels will be too high, and companies will not be able to respond quickly enough to changes in the market. The goal of sales planning is to ensure that demand is met in a cost-effective manner. On the one hand, this allows for more efficient production processes to use the resources required for these processes as effectively as possible. At the same time, companies want to increase product availability, optimize inventory levels, and simplify purchasing processes.
VIDEO: AI IN EVERYDAY LIFE
Sales planning
In this video, our colleague Jennifer Stead, AI Catalyst at INFORM, explains how AI helps companies establish intelligent sales planning. Even people in love can benefit from this!
Constant availability means constant challenges
In the food industry, many factors come together to make the constant availability of all food products difficult. External factors such as weather conditions and changes in buying patterns during the season or before holidays must be considered and planned for. For example, rising temperatures lead to increased sales of barbecue products, while sales decline when the weather is bad. In addition, the food industry is very trend-driven, so a keen sense of customer needs is important to produce the desired varieties, flavors, and portion sizes at the right time. The shelf life of products is often limited. If it is exceeded, the product is written off and becomes a loss-making business for the company.
When so many factors need to be considered simultaneously, algorithms provide a level of precision that human expertise alone cannot achieve.
AI improves planning accuracy
Due to the interaction of all factors, manually controlled systems are often not accurate enough and reach their limits, especially when it comes to long-term forecasts. This is where AI comes in: decision-intelligent algorithms can transparently display all planning information from various sources along the entire supply chain. By analyzing historical data and recognizing patterns, they can make predictions about what products will be needed and in what quantities. To do this, they analyze many possible decision options, considering all goals and constraints, and find the best and most effective solution. Especially when so many influencing factors have to be taken into account at the same time, the algorithms achieve a precision that cannot be achieved by human expertise alone.
AI increases reliability
AI enables companies to respond quickly and appropriately to large orders or emerging economic trends. When potential bottlenecks become apparent, a planning tool generates meaningful alerts and makes recommendations that are tailored to the situation. In this way, reliable sales and consumption forecasts can be made. Fluctuations, especially during seasonal peaks and holidays, can be identified early, and bottlenecks avoided..
AI makes the obvious possible
Full supermarket shelves are something we take for granted. But for the manufacturers of the many products, making this a reality is a major daily challenge. Anyone who has to quickly pick up a few groceries for unannounced guests has AI-based sales planning to thank for being a confident host who is not thrown off course by spontaneous visitors.