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Ferris Forecasting. May 9, 2007. Goal. Build a tool that will allow our marketing department to accurately forecast sales based on our products’ attributes. Linear Regression – Take 1. 2 Fundamental Mistakes Sales vs. Potential Market Share
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Ferris Forecasting May 9, 2007
Goal Build a tool that will allow our marketing department to accurately forecast sales based on our products’ attributes
Linear Regression – Take 1 • 2 Fundamental Mistakes • Sales vs. Potential Market Share • Using sales history to predict demand provides a skewed view, as it includes the affects of stockouts by the competition • Using Potential Market Share removes this issue • ‘Absolute’ vs. ‘Relative’ Attribute Measurements • We originally used our absolute price (e.g. $35.00), MTBF (17500), etc. • It is not our absolute price that is important, it is our price relative to our competitors in the market segment
Linear Regression • Minitab helps us understand most important attributes affecting potential market share: • Expected Market Share (Segment Demand / # of Products inSegment) • Relative Price (Our Price minus Expected Average Price) • Relative MTBF (Our MTBF minus Expected Average MTBF) • Relative Awareness (Our Awareness minus Expected Average Awareness) • Though other factors are at play, statistics show that these are the attributes that have the bulk of the effect on demand
Forecasting Tool Known – From Simulation Assumptions – Must Predict Competitor Behavior Known – From our Product Attributes Results – From Regression & Assumptions Error – How good were our assumptions ? Underestimated competitor’s price cuts
Process • Update Regression after each round • Update coefficients based on total rounds to date • Look for new factors that are beginning to affect demand • If the current factors converge for all products in the segment, other factors will more heavily impact demand • Learn from error • Did we make a bad assumption on competitor’s price / MTBF / etc. ?
Key Learnings • Forecasting is ‘Art’ as well as ‘Science’ … can never perfectly predict competitive behavior • Must evaluate your product vs. competition (market conditions) • Process was simplified for us due to our primary involvement in a single market segment
Questions? David Domnisch (302) 999-3240 Shannon Koerber (302) 695-1598 Kristen Falcone (302) 992-2195 Bill Potts (302) 992-2164 For more information, contact any member of our Ferris Family: