Sales forecasting

Question 1

What is intuition

Answer 1

A gut feeling about a product used when the product has little data

Question 2

What is brainstorming

Answer 2

Lots of people come together and give a verity of ideas on a problem shown

Question 3

Disadvantages of delphi technique

Answer 3

1.Takes a long long time
2.Assumes people will come to agree but they may just stick with their original thoughts

Question 4

Advantages of delphi technique

Answer 4

1.Flexible to be used in lots of different scenarios
2.Data is recorded to be used at any time
3.Provides a structure for people to make decisions

Question 5

What is the delphi method

Answer 5

Experts answer a questionnaire independently then the results are gathered. These results are shared with everyone then they do it again and after an amount of time all experts end up coming to a agreed answer.

Question 6

3 market data methods

Answer 6

1.Survey customers intentions - what they will do in future?
2.Direct sales information- sales staff notice change in trends of consumers
3.Test marketing- testing customers response to a product before release e.g getting a group to try new food

Question 7

Drawbacks of time series analysis

Answer 7

1.It’s a prediction no guarantee it happens
2.Historically data is not always a good indication of future trends
3.Hard to predict future

Question 8

Usefulness of time series analysis

Answer 8

1.Help business plan ahead
2.Financial planning
3.Hr planning , right number of employees
4.less likely of unexpected surprises
5.Production planning, right number of supply’s

Question 9

What is correlation

Answer 9

A measure between the relationship of 2 factors plotted on a scatter graph

Question 10

What’s the point of a 3 point moving average

Answer 10

To see the general rate of sales over time.

Question 11

4 types of time series analysis

Answer 11

1.Seasonal analysis- see if there’s a pattern in sales and different seasons
2.Trend analysis- general trend over years
3.Cycle analysis- relationship between demand and economic cycle
4.Random factor analysis- provide exposition for unusual sales activity

Question 12

What is time series analysis?

Answer 12

Using evidence from past sales to predict future sales patterns.

Question 13

When to use quantitive data?

Answer 13

When there is lots of historical data available

Question 14

2 quantitive methods of sales forecasting

Answer 14

1.Times series analysis
2.Use of market research and data

Question 15

4 qualitative sales forecasting methods.

Answer 15

Qualative:
1.Delphi technique
2.Brainstorming
3.Intuition
4.Expert opinion

Question 16

What is extrapolation

Answer 16

Using past business date to forecast future sales.

Question 17

Why use sales forecasting

Answer 17

To predict future sales and then can estimate supply, money, capital needed and resources needed.