Forecasting Fresh Produce Sales
Task 1: Store Format for Existing Stores
Your company currently has 85 grocery stores and is planning to open 10 new stores at the beginning of the year. Currently, all stores use the same store format for selling their products. Up until now, the company has treated all stores similarly, shipping the same amount of product to each store. This is beginning to cause problems as stores are suffering from product surpluses in some product categories and shortages in others. You've been asked to provide analytical support to make decisions about store formats and inventory planning.
Task 2: Store Format for New Stores
The grocery store chain has 10 new stores opening up at the beginning of the year. The company wants to determine which store format each of the new stores should have. However, we don’t have sales data for these new stores yet, so we’ll have to determine the format using each of the new store’s demographic data.
Task 3: Forecasting
Fresh produce has a short life span, and due to increasing costs, the company wants to have an accurate monthly sales forecast.