Why Can’t Retailers and Suppliers Get Their Act Together on Demand Forecasting?

How in the world are retailers and suppliers supposed to come up with accurate demand forecasts if they aren’t sharing the same data in the same manner at the same time?

COVID-19 is rightly blamed for many of the problems that plagued consumer products supply chains throughout 2020. But shortages of toilet paper, bottled water and other essentials were made even worse by the misalignment of demand data strategies between suppliers and buyers. That’s the conclusion of a recent report by software engineering company CI&T.

“The retailer-supplier relationship isn’t arranged in the way most conducive to confident demand forecasting,” the report states rather politely. But the consequences are serious, presenting the retail supply chain with a host of issues stemming from the failure to accurately predict demand.