Inventory forecasting is the backbone of efficient supply chain management. Knowing when and how much stock to order ensures you meet customer demand while minimizing excess inventory and stockouts. However, what happens when you have multiple locations, each with different sales patterns and demand levels? This is where location-specific forecasts in StockTrim come into play.
What is Location-Specific Forecasting?
Location-specific forecasting in StockTrim allows businesses to generate tailored inventory predictions based on the unique sales data from each physical or virtual location. Rather than relying on generalized forecasts for the entire business, StockTrim helps you dive deeper, focusing on individual branches or warehouses, each with its own demand characteristics. This ensures that inventory is allocated efficiently, preventing both overstocking and stockouts.
Why Is It Important?
Each location in a multi-location business might cater to different customer bases, exhibit varying demand trends, and have specific restocking needs. Ignoring these differences can lead to poor inventory management, wasted capital, and unsatisfied customers.
For instance:
• Urban locations might have higher foot traffic and faster turnover of popular items, demanding more frequent restocking.
• Rural locations may see slower product movement but require different stock quantities to avoid running out during longer restocking cycles.
By using StockTrim’s location-based forecasting, you ensure that each location gets the stock it needs based on its own sales data, not just overall company trends.
How It Works:
In StockTrim, once you’ve enabled the location-based forecasting feature, you can easily filter the order plan by location. This forecast is generated by analyzing sales history at that specific location, adjusting for factors such as seasonality and lead times.
You can then see location-specific suggested order quantities for each item. If you’re ordering stock directly from suppliers to individual locations, these quantities can be directly applied to your purchase orders. Alternatively, if your business operates with a central warehouse, these forecasts can guide the transfer quantities between your central hub and branch locations.
Benefits of Location-Specific Forecasting
1. Increased Forecast Accuracy: Location-based forecasting ensures the forecasts are tailored to actual sales behavior at each location. This boosts the accuracy of your predictions and aligns inventory levels more closely with real demand.
2. Improved Inventory Efficiency: By ensuring that the right amount of stock is sent to each location, you can avoid overstocking and understocking, which reduces carrying costs and the risk of stockouts.
3. Better Customer Satisfaction: When each branch or warehouse has sufficient stock to meet local demand, customers get the products they want when they want them. This directly improves the customer experience and boosts loyalty.
4. Flexible Settings: With StockTrim, you can set independent forecasting parameters for each location, offering full control over how forecasts are configured and calculated at every branch.
Making the Most of Location-Specific Forecasts
To take full advantage of StockTrim’s location-specific forecasting, it’s essential to ensure your sales data is accurate and up to date. Regularly syncing your inventory management system with StockTrim will help keep forecasts accurate and ensure that order recommendations reflect the latest data.Ready to Optimize Your Inventory Forecasting? Location-specific forecasting is just one of the many powerful features StockTrim offers to help businesses streamline their inventory processes. Want to learn more?
Get in touch with us or explore how StockTrim can revolutionize your inventory management today!
