Waitrose expands forecasting

Supermarket Waitrose is adding new forecasting capability with a new tech collaboration

Rather than relying on historical sales data and human intuition, it is teaming up with Blue Yonder and its  AI forecasting capability to focus on customer behaviour.

Waitrose will now be able to improve customer satisfaction score; leverage AI capabilities to ingest and analyse massive volumes of data without overwhelming users; assess risks by weighing different forecasting outcomes; determine stock volumes dynamically to minimise waste; and respond to demand fluctuations automatically, quickly and accurately.

Alison Maffin, Waitrose supply chain director, said: “This will allow us to produce a much more accurate forecast for our suppliers and logistics partners but will also result in less wastage and better availability for our customers.’’