AI-Based Demand Forecasting for Smarter Purchasing
Forecast Total Buy Quantity with unmatched precision — minimize excess stock, reduce lost sales, and optimize inventory investment.
Make Data-Driven Purchasing Decisions
Accurately Forecast the Right Purchase Quantity
Purchasing miscalculations come at a high cost — overbuying leads to markdowns, excess stock, and waste, while underbuying results in stockouts, lost revenue and unmet customer expectations. Accurately determining the Total Buy Quantity is a critical first step in Merchandise Planning. Churchill’s Purchasing solution provides retailers with greater visibility into demand patterns. By incorporating Lost Sales Data, we provide a complete view of demand, ensuring every purchase decision is precise, data-driven, and aligned with customer needs.
Reduce Financial Risk in Product Purchasing
Optimize Initial Buy Quantities
Maximize Sell-Through and Minimize Markdowns
Limit Stockouts and Excess Inventory
Churchill’s Short Life Cycle Demand Forecaster™ (SLC) and Profile Cluster Builder™ (PCB) work together to optimize purchasing decisions. PCB first arranges demand patterns into clusters across stores and regions, in order to generate demand profiles at the SKU/store level. SLC PreSeason® then analyzes sales history and demand signals to accurately predict demand for new, seasonal, and short-lifecycle products, while SLC InSeason® refines forecasts throughout the season. This ensures that purchase quantities align with real demand, reducing stock imbalances, minimizing risk, and maximizing sell-through.
Key Benefits
Factor in Lost Sales for a True Demand Picture
Churchill’s Purchasing solution integrates Lost Sales Data to calculate Total Demand, ensuring buy quantities reflect what customers would have purchased if inventory had been available. This allows retailers to make more accurate purchasing decisions, reduce stock shortages, and capture full revenue potential.
Move Beyond Traditional Purchase Decisions
Refine buying decisions by ensuring purchase quantities are based on true demand, not just last years sales data. Churchill’s Purchasing solution eliminates guesswork with data-driven forecasting, accounting for historical sales patterns, lost sales, and demand variability. By tailoring purchase quantities to actual demand signals, retailers can optimize inventory levels, and ensure the right products are bought in the right amounts.
Enhance Vendor Negotiations
Strong vendor relationships start with data-driven purchasing decisions. Churchill’s Purchasing solution eliminates guesswork with data-driven forecasting, accounting for historical sales patterns, lost sales, and other vital demand signals. By tailoring purchase quantities to anticipated demand, retailers can optimize inventory levels, and ensure the right products are bought in the right amounts.
Retail-Specific Features
Buyers, Category Managers, and Chief Merchandising Officers all play a critical role in purchasing strategy. Whether you’re selecting purchase quantities at SKU level or making high-level inventory investments, Churchill’s Purchasing solution provides the data-driven insights needed to optimize every decision.
Buyer
- ✔Purchase the right amount of inventory for new, existing, and special buy products based on demand
- ✔Use demand forecasts to prevent markdown risk and stockouts/lost sales
- ✔Negotiate better pricing and terms with suppliers by committing to purchase volumes based on real data
Category Manager
- ✔Ensure purchasing decisions maximize profit and minimize risk
- ✔Approve buying strategies for different product categories based on forecasted demand
- ✔Use demand forecasts to plan assortment depth and breadth
- ✔Reduce markdown dependency by selecting new items with stronger demand potential
Chief Merchandising Officer
- ✔Strengthen coordination between merchandising, supply chain and finance teams to improve decision-making and execution
- ✔Maximize revenue and profitability while optimizing inventory investment
- ✔Mitigates risks of stock imbalances, financial inefficiencies, and ensure smooth operations and cost control
- ✔Ensure alignment between demand, inventory, and financial goals