Patent ID: 6976001

Claim:
A method suitable for projecting demand, the method comprising: (i) identifying a first set of merchandise; (ii) specifying a second set of merchandise which is to be used as a referent for soliciting information relative to demand behavior for a pre-determined attribute of said first set of merchandise; (iii) clustering the second set of merchandise for generating a demand profile for said pre-determined attribute of said first set of merchandise by utilizing a clustering algorithm which partitions said second set into non-overlapping clusters with similar size profiles; (iv) clustering the second set of merchandise for generating a demand model correlated to model-based demand attributes of said first set of merchandise, said clustering the second set of merchandise for generating a demand model comprising generating a demand model based on modeling demand as a function of major variables being selected from a group consisting of price, promotions, inventory level, and seasonal effects; and (v) combining the demand profile and the demand model into a single encompassing model which is capable of projecting demand of the first set of merchandise, wherein at least one of said clustering for generating a demand profile, said clustering for generating a demand model, and said combining the generated demand profile and generated demand model are executed on a computer central processing unit (CPU).