Each group of customers are a damnation upon themselves, and they will get the attention they deserve, but demand planning to meet customer demand is its own damnation. Why is this?

Traditional demand planning models require historical data.

To be precise, they require a fair amount of historical sales or usage data in order to be accurate. And sometimes a lot of sales data. But with new product introductions coming fast and furious every day, there are so many categories without a decent amount, if any, historical sales data that it’s hard to make good predictions. Now, one can always use the most similar product, or the product the new product is expected to replace, but this weakens the model and the confidence in the result.

Traditional demand planning models require market predictability.

To be more precise, they expect that the market will not substantially change. That the needs will stay the same. The utilization or replacement curves will stay about the same. That a competitor won’t substantially increase or decrease their market share overnight. That a revolutionary new product won’t be released that causes a huge market shift.

Traditional demand planning models require market foresight.

In addition to requiring historical data and market predictability, traditional demand planning requires market foresight. Knowledge of potential competitor product introductions that could change the market demand. Knowledge of innovations that will begin demand shifts. Knowledge of general market conditions that could delay replacements or result in reduced demand due to cash availability.

Demand Planning requires knowledge of the expected price point.

Most products are services, especially in the end consumer market, are very price dependent. People will pay more if they perceive more value, which could be better quality, more functionality, or owning an iconic brand, but if they don’t perceive more value in your product which is priced higher than a competitor’s product, don’t think for a minute, even if they bought from you last time, they won’t shift. And price prediction is difficult if it is dependent on production cost, which can be variable if transportation can involve unpredictable fuel surcharges, raw material prices can skyrocket due to insufficient supply as a result of a disaster, and labour prices are dependent on contingent labour to meet demands at peak periods.

In other words, sometimes demand prediction models fall flat, and demand projections come from a place that can only be seen by a proctologist with a flashlight, so how do you effectively plan for those as a Procurement Professional? You don’t. It’s damnation.