Patent ID: 7533037

Claim:
A computer-implemented method to determine daily demand forecasts for a product, comprising the steps of: maintaining an electronic database of historical demand data said product, wherein said historical demand data includes historical daily demand data for said product for a period of at least one regular week, and historical daily demand data for said product for a period of at least one week that includes a store closure day; electronically calculating a daily weight value for said product for each day of said regular week from said historical daily demand data, each daily weight value representing the ratio of the historical daily demand for a corresponding day of said regular week to a total of said historical daily demands for said week; electronically determining a daily demand forecast for each day of a forthcoming week from said daily weight values and a weekly demand forecast for said forthcoming week; electronically calculating a store closure coefficient for said product for each store closure impacted day of said week that includes a store closure day, each store closure coefficient representing the ratio of the historical daily demand for a corresponding store closure impacted day to the historical demand for a corresponding day during said regular week; and using a computer for modifying said daily demand forecast for each day of a forthcoming week including a store closure day through application of said store closure coefficients to the prior determined daily demand forecasts.