The world of eCommerce is constantly growing, as market trends change each day, it can be hard to keep up with the fluctuation. Demand planning stands as a cornerstone for sustainable growth and success for your business. According to a study by Internet Retailing, 68% of businesses interviewed claimed the shortage of good quality labour has badly affected the ability to keep up with customer demand. So let’s delve into the significance of demand planning for your ecommerce business and why it should be a top priority for you this year.
Optimising Inventory Management
A little planning can go a long way, especially with inventory control. Taking a quick look at your sales data will help you create a forecast for ordering stock, so you don’t fall behind in your busier months. Expect that busier periods may occur in the months leading up to Christmas, or big events that relate to your company.
But the benefits don’t end there - planning for demand will also bring down your storage costs and avoid a cluttered warehouse, meaning you don’t need to panic about running out of space for your inventory. It also ensures you aren’t overordering stock and increasing your overall costs.
Enhancing Customer Experience
Customer experience is so important for any business. We all know how frustrating it is when you’re shopping online and there are out-of-stock items or lengthy delivery times. Demand planning helps you anticipate spikes in demand, such as seasonal trends or promotional events, allowing you to prepare accordingly, and make sure your customers never have to deal with this.
By ensuring product availability and timely fulfilment, you can deliver a satisfying and reliable shopping experience with your customers, building a relationship with them and encouraging repeat purchases.
Optimising Pricing Strategies
Demand planning goes beyond just inventory management; it also plays a crucial role in your pricing strategies. By understanding demand patterns and consumer behaviour, your business can adjust your pricing dynamically to maximise profitability.
During periods of high demand, prices can be adjusted upwards for additional revenue, whilst during slower periods, discounts or promotions can be set in place to encourage more sales (who doesn’t love a good sale!).
For example, January is usually a tough month for retail and online businesses, and doing a January sale may encourage a boost in sales. Such strategic pricing decisions can significantly impact profitability and competitiveness in the ecommerce marketplace.
Streamlining Supply Chain Operations
Effective demand planning can help run your supply chain smoothly, and therefore making life that little bit easier for you. By providing suppliers with accurate forecasts, your business can ensure accurate inventory and mitigate the risk of supply disruptions, and therefore ensuring your customers can get their items faster.
A knock in your supply chain can cause a huge delay in orders, and this may lead to bad reviews, more refunds, and angry customers – and NO ONE wants that. Ensure that you are prepared, with a detailed plan to give to your supply providers.
Driving Business Growth
Are you wanting to grow your business? Then it is key that you begin to plan ahead.
Ultimately, demand planning serves as a catalyst for business growth and expansion. By leveraging data-driven insights and predictive analytics, your business can not only identify new market opportunities but also create new products, and also tailor your marketing strategies for greater effectiveness and constant growth (and who wouldn’t want that).
To wrap up, your business should prioritise demand planning in order to be as successful as possible. By accurately forecasting demand, optimising inventory management, enhancing customer experience, refining pricing strategies, and streamlining supply chain operations, your business can unlock new levels of efficiency, profitability, and growth. With constant rapid change and intense competition, your business needs to be on its A-game, and mastering the art of demand planning can help you stay ahead of the curve.
Partnering with a 3PL
Partnering up with GNOC can help your business keep up with your demand planning. With years of experience, we have the analytics and knowlegde of many market trends to support you with your demand. We can help you predict how much inventory and rescources you may need to meet the demand fluxuation you may face throughout the year. It is our job to keep up with high volumes of orders, so you can feel stress free in your busiest periods.
Enquire now, and tell us your businesses requirements, and we can help you start your 3PL journey now.
