A supply chain stretching across 1,200 stores and more than a million product placements sounds like a lot to juggle. For one U.S. tire and wheel retailer, it was, until they leaned on advanced forecasting tools to stay ahead instead of just keeping up.
Curious how they pulled it off? We’ll get to that soon, but first, let’s uncover the two building blocks of supply chain success: demand forecasting and demand planning.
At its core, supply chain management is about connecting the dots between these two processes to keep operations running smoothly. But what do they really mean?
What’s the difference between demand forecasting and demand planning?
Let’s break it down.
Demand Forecasting
Demand forecasting is like your crystal ball—it gives you a glimpse into what customers will want tomorrow by analyzing historical data, market trends, and external factors.
Today, demand is increasingly driven by pull rather than push forces. Take a laptop manufacturer, for example. In the past, they might have forecasted a million units for the back-to-school season and ramped up production months in advance—a classic push approach. Now, the same manufacturer fine-tunes production every week using real-time e-commerce order data, letting actual demand shape supply.
That’s the power of modern forecasting. It turns gut feeling into informed action, helping businesses make smarter decisions about inventory, production schedules, and resource allocation. The more precise the forecast, the fewer stockouts, excess inventory, or wasted resources you’ll face.
Demand Planning
Once the forecast is in place, planning takes over. This is where strategy meets execution, aligning supply chain operations with the forecasted demand.
It’s all about ensuring the right products are in the right place at the right time, while staying flexible enough to adapt to shifts like seasonality or sudden market changes.
For example, a consumer electronics company might forecast higher laptop demand during the back-to-school season and proactively adjust production to capture that opportunity. Done well, demand planning bridges the gap between prediction and performance, turning insights into action across the supply chain.
In short, forecasting provides the insights, and planning transforms those insights into strategies that keep your supply chain humming.
Why one unified forecast is a game changer
When different departments—like sales, production, and finance—work from their own forecasts, it creates a ripple effect of misaligned priorities, inefficiencies, and unnecessary costs. A unified forecast eliminates this chaos by providing a single source of truth for the entire organization.
With everyone working from the same demand projections, strategies align seamlessly—inventory levels, promotional activities, and production schedules all fall into place, reducing waste and ensuring your business is ready to adapt to market changes.
Beyond operational efficiency, a unified forecast builds trust and transparency across teams. When decisions are based on consistent data, collaboration becomes easier, and teams can act with confidence. It creates a shared framework that fosters accountability and ensures everyone is working toward the same goals.
How a leading tire retailer boosted forecast accuracy and transformed its supply chain
Discount Tire, a leading US-based independent retailer of tires and wheels, operates over 1,200 stores across 39 states, managing more than 1 million product placements. By implementing Blue Yonder’s demand planning and replenishment capabilities, built on Microsoft Azure, the company achieved a 600 basis points increase in forecast accuracy and a 1,000-basis-point improvement in vendor fill-to-order metrics. These advancements optimized inventory levels, reduced out-of-stock occurrences, and ensured customers always found what they needed enabling Discount Tire to stay ahead of customer demand and market changes.
Demand more from your forecast
Forecasting isn’t just about predicting demand, it’s about empowering your business to act on it. Blue Yonder’s solutions allow businesses to create precise, explainable forecasts that adapt to market volatility, automate routine tasks, and align teams around a single source of truth.
By leveraging these tools, companies can enhance collaboration, reduce inefficiencies, and stay ahead of market changes.
