Keeping Up With Customer Demand Through Data-Driven Forecasting
Fine-tuning inventory levels to meet changing customer preferences is a constant battle for wholesalers, and today’s fast-moving omnichannel environment is making that calculus even more complex. As they develop their purchasing plans, businesses are facing a bevy of uncertainties:
- E-commerce now accounts for 10 percent of total retail sales, requiring organizations across nearly every industry to manage both online and brick-and-mortar demand.
- Shoppers return 30 percent of online purchases, three times the number of in-person returns, which complicates inventory management further.
- Suppliers are servicing an increasingly complex web of online and offline channels, with 90 percent relying on field sales, 54 percent on their own websites, and 28 percent on third-party marketplaces beyond Amazon.com.
- External factors such as continued uncertainty over U.S.-China tariffs are adding to the pressure and forcing businesses to re-examine their inventory strategies.
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