Waitrose is extending its collaboration with Blue Yonder with the addition of the supply chain solution provider’s industry-leading forecasting capability.
The new move will mark the first significant introduction of artificial intelligence (AI) into Waitrose’s forecasting – and is designed to improve the already high levels of availability across the retailer’s stores.
Rather than relying on historical sales data and human intuition, the AI forecasting capability – part of Blue Yonder Demand Planning – focuses on customer behaviour and analyses ‘why’ customers bought what they did rather than just ‘what’ they bought.
The capability understands and learns from the trading environment to provide a better forecast based on customer behaviour. For example, it will learn how customers responded to a variety of influences including weather variations, major sporting and cultural events and promotions.
The upgrade is part of a significant investment in technology across Waitrose’s supply chain and is designed to improve availability, which already stands at record levels.