How Point of Sales Data Are Used in Demand Forecastingat Heinz North America

HoW PoiNt oF SAleS DAtA ARe USeD iN DeMAND FoReCAStiNg At HeiNz NoRtH AMeRiCA By Sara Park M M any consumer product goods (CPG) companies use the Point of Sales (POS) or consumption data in their forecasting processes; Heinz is not an exception. We use the data in a variety of ways, not only for analytical purposes, but also as a communication bridge with various cross-functional partners, including Marketing and Sales, as well as various Supply Chain departments. Heinz uses syndicated data from Nielsen and IRI, depending on the data availability for various channels, and Retail Link for Wal-Mart and Sam’s Club. ANAlYtiCS We rely on the POS data to tell us the health of our businesses, the major categories in which we do business, and our business’s competitors and threats. Some of the benefits of using information from the POS data include the following. 1. They enable us to balance either too much optimism or pessimism that can come from shipment trends alone. 2. They provide more stable and consistent patterns that can be easily used, as well as helps us to identify changes in the trend over time. Shipment data are not true indicators of a change in the trend because their ...