Forecasting Returns for Retail Demand Planning
AssigneeJDA Software Group, Inc.
InventorPhilippe Jean-Marc Tilly
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A system and method are disclosed for returns forecasting for a retail store inventory of one or more supply chain entities. Embodiments include receiving a current state of items in a supply chain network, receiving a sales time series and a returns time series, computing a returns forecast comprising an expected quantity of a particular product to be returned for a future time period using a sales forecast a and a transfer function estimated from the sales time series and the returns time series.
Claims20
A computer-implemented method for returns forecasting for a retail store inventory of one or more supply chain entities, comprising:
- receiving, by a computer, a sales time series comprising a sequence of sales quantities of a particular product and a returns time series comprising a sequence of returns quantities of the particular product;
- and
- computing, by the computer, a returns forecast comprising an expected quantity of the particular product to be returned for a future time period, the returns forecast computed using a sales forecast and a transfer function, the transfer function estimated from the sales time series and the returns time series and comprising one or more weights, each of the one or more weights associated with a time period and comprising a probability that the particular product will be returned during the associated time period.
A system of returns forecasting for a retail store inventory of one or more supply chain entities, comprising:
- a computer, comprising a processor and a memory, and configured to:
- receive a sales time series comprising a sequence of sales quantities of a particular product and a returns time series comprising a sequence of returns quantities of the particular product;
- and
- compute a returns forecast comprising an expected quantity of the particular product to be returned for a future time period, the returns forecast computed using a sales forecast and a transfer function, the transfer function estimated from the sales time series and the returns time series and comprising one or more weights, each of the one or more weights associated with a time period and comprising a probability that the particular product will be returned during the associated time period.
A non-transitory computer-readable medium embodied with software, the software when executed configured to forecast returns for a retail store inventory of one or more supply chain entities by:
- receiving a sales time series comprising a sequence of sales quantities of a particular product and a returns time series comprising a sequence of returns quantities of the particular product;
- computing a returns forecast comprising an expected quantity of the particular product to be returned for a future time period, the returns forecast computed using a sales forecast and a transfer function, the transfer function estimated from the sales time series and the returns time series and comprising one or more weights, each of the one or more weights associated with a time period and comprising a probability that the particular product will be returned during the associated time period.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.