Patent ID: 8793153

Claim:
A method comprising: receiving historical market data for one or more sample outlets; generating a first preliminary forecast of a product demand for a first time interval, wherein generating the first preliminary forecast comprises: generating a sample forecast for at least one sample outlet of the one or more sample outlets based on the historical market data, and for at least one non-sample outlet determining a projection factor and estimating a non-sample forecast using the projection factor; receiving a first live market data during the first time interval; screening the first live market data to exclude from subsequent processing a portion of the first live market data corresponding to one or more unusual events; determining, by one or more processing devices, a first adjustment factor based on a difference between the screened live market data, which excludes the portion of the first live market data corresponding to one or more unusual events, and the first preliminary forecast; and updating the first preliminary forecast for the first time interval using the first adjustment factor to derive a second preliminary forecast for the first time interval.