Finding the right balance in your inventory is a challenge for every e-commerce company. Demand Planning and Forecasting are important pillars to find that inventory balance. In this article, we explore the range of benefits that demand planning and forecasting provide for e-commerce businesses, ranging from improving customer satisfaction to optimising inventory levels and reducing operational costs. In addition, we zoom in on the possibilities of AI to optimise your inventory management in a smart and targeted way.
Why integrate Demand Planning and Forecasting?
Effective inventory management is the backbone of successful e-commerce businesses. Everything within your organisation is also about finding the right balance between product availability, customer satisfaction and operational efficiency.
Demand planning and forecasting are two crucial pillars of your inventory management. Demand planning involves anticipating future demand based on historical data and market trends. While forecasting provides accurate predictions that make it possible to have the right products at the right time.
If you, as a webshop, have no insight into future demand, inventory management can prove to be a major challenge and result in too little or too much stock. The consequences of an imbalance in your inventory: excess stock that eats up money and warehouse space and/or lost sales’ that negatively affect your turnover. In this article, demand planning and forecasting are central as tools to balance your inventory and we introduce three concrete benefits for your e-commerce business.
1. Ensuring customer satisfaction
Consumers expect flawless and fast delivery from your webshop. Product availability is therefore extremely important for customer satisfaction. Working with an integrated demand planning system enables you as a company to anticipate peak times and seasonal changes in demand. In this way, customers always have access to the desired products when they need them. This goes hand in hand with minimising backorders and delays. The more accurate the forecasts, the less disappointed customers who are faced with delayed deliveries or products that are not available.
In addition, efficient inventory management, driven by integrated demand planning and forecasting, has a direct effect on the speed at which orders are processed and delivered within your organisation. Shorter delivery times and reliable deliveries contribute to a positive customer experience and long-term customer loyalty. The ability to deliver on time and consistently is an important factor in creating your reputation as an online store.
Curious about what to focus on to keep your cash flow moving? Find in the white paper six smart ways to get a grip on your supply chain and avoid that cash getting tied up in excess stock.
2. Reducing operational costs
Demand planning and forecasting can also play an indispensable role in reducing operational costs.
Minimise storage costs
Demand planning ensures that your inventory levels are closely aligned with demand, limiting excess stock and reducing storage costs. If your inventory management is based on estimates, you can fall into the trap of building up a surplus of products. If you do not sell these products, they will take up storage space and cash.
Limiting obsolescence
With efficient inventory management based on demand planning, you also minimise the risk of product expiration, damage or obsolescence. This not only contributes to cost savings but also to objectives you set for sustainability and business responsibility.
Optimising purchasing processes
By integrating demand planning you have insights into future demand patterns and trends, so that you can make better purchasing decisions. This manifests directly into lower purchasing costs because unnecessary purchases are avoided and purchasing volumes are aligned with actual demand. As a company, you can also benefit from favourable purchasing conditions and quantity discounts from your suppliers.
By optimising inventory management and, as a result, reducing operational costs, you not only increase profitability but also create room to invest in growth initiatives and other strategic business goals.
3. AI in demand planning and forecasting
The application of AI enables webshops to make demand planning and forecasting even more accurate and efficient. AI’s ability to analyse and understand complex data is crucial for effective demand planning and forecasting. AI technology as developed by Optiply is able to convert huge amounts of historical data, market trends, seasonal patterns and other relevant factors into accurate purchasing advice. In this way, you can accurately respond to future customer demand. This enables you as a company to make decisions based on data instead of estimations.
Another interesting aspect of AI for procurement and inventory management is that the effectiveness of forecasting is getting better at identifying patterns, predicting changes in demand and adapting to unexpected disruptions in the market. This adaptive approach makes it possible to respond to changing conditions in real time and continuously optimises results.
Demand planning enables you to ensure product availability, minimise backorders and improve delivery times. In addition, efficient inventory management allows you to minimise storage costs, limit obsolescence and optimise purchasing processes.
The role of AI in the demand planning process is getting bigger and bigger. Advanced AI technology such as developed by Optiply can improve inventory management by analysing massive amounts of data to create accurate forecasts. In addition, AI is self-learning, so it adapts to changing circumstances and always gives optimal results.
Curious about what to focus on to keep your cash flow moving? Find in the white paper six smart ways to get a grip on your supply chain and avoid that cash getting tied up in excess stock.