Patent ID: 8359229
Filing Date: 2013-01-22
Classification: G06Q

Abstract:
1. A computer-implemented method for forecasting promotional demand for a product, the method comprising the steps of: (a) maintaining, in a data warehouse, a database of historical product demand information for a plurality of products; (b) maintaining, in said data warehouse, a database of prior calculated promotional demand forecast values and prior calculated promotional uplift coefficient values for said plurality of products; (c) analyzing, by a computer in communication with said data warehouse, said historical product demand information to determine expected regular sales and promotional uplift coefficients for said plurality of products at each level in a product hierarchy; (d) analyzing, by said computer, said historical product demand information, said prior calculated promotional demand forecast values, and said prior calculated promotional uplift coefficient values to determine confidence values corresponding to each promotional uplift coefficient determined in step (c); (e) selecting, by said computer, an optimal confidence value for said product from the confidence values at each level in said product hierarchy containing said product; and (f) determining, by said computer, a promotional forecast for said product by combining the expected regular sales for said product and the uplift coefficient corresponding to the optimal confidence value selected in step (e).