Patent ID: 8065203

Claim:
A computer-implemented method for estimating demand for a product at a plurality of stores, wherein the product is sold in several varieties, comprising: receiving, using one or more data processors, a selection of a first attribute, wherein the first attribute is used to divide the plurality of stores into a plurality of groups; generating, using the one or more data processors, a product hierarchy for each group, wherein the product hierarchy includes a plurality of levels containing a plurality of nodes arranged in parent-child relationships, wherein each parent node includes a total of each variety of the product sold at associated child nodes; generating, using the one or more data processors, an aggregate distribution of demand at each parent node based upon the total of each variety of the product sold at the associated child nodes; evaluating, using the one or more data processors, each node to identify robust nodes, wherein a robust node is identified when the aggregate distribution of a child node differs from the aggregate distribution of a parent node by more than a prespecified amount; determining, using the one or more data processors, an aggregate distribution for each child node based on a parent node, wherein each child node inherits the aggregate distribution of a closest parent node that is a robust node; and using the aggregate distributions at each child node to estimate demand for each variety of the product using the one or more data processors, wherein demand at each child node is estimated based upon the aggregate distribution of a nearest robust parent node at a higher level of the product hierarchy.