Demand Forecasting & PlanningCOO16 min read

AI-Native vs Legacy Approaches to Capturing Events and Seasonality Impact on Demand Predictions for $10M–$100M Companies

For $10M–$100M companies, legacy forecasting systems struggle to capture seasonal demand cycles and promotional events accurately. This blog compares how AI-native planning systems enable more reliable event-aware demand predictions.

Forecasting Approaches Are Evolving

Companies in the $10M–$100M range often rely on legacy forecasting tools that were designed for stable demand environments.

Seasonal buying behavior and promotional campaigns introduce variability that these systems struggle to incorporate.

Legacy tools rely on historical smoothing.

Legacy Forecasting Workflows

Traditional forecasting systems extrapolate historical demand trends to generate future projections.

Promotional uplift is often estimated manually through planner overrides.

  • Manual event adjustments
  • Aggregate seasonal smoothing
  • Disconnected commercial calendars
  • Single-point forecasts
  • Reactive procurement decisions

Manual adjustments introduce inconsistency.

AI-Native Planning Systems

AI-native forecasting systems isolate baseline demand from promotional uplift across SKU portfolios.

Commercial calendars are integrated directly into demand projections.

  • Promotion-driven demand detection
  • Seasonal uplift modeling
  • Lifecycle-aware forecasting
  • Scenario-based projections
  • Proactive procurement alignment

AI-native systems enable event-aware forecasting.

Inventory Outcomes

AI-driven forecasting improves alignment between procurement decisions and anticipated consumption patterns.

Excess inventory accumulation during off-peak cycles is reduced.

Supporting Mid-Market Growth

As companies scale across SKUs and channels, AI-native systems provide consistent event-aware forecasting.

This supports scalable inventory planning aligned with commercial calendars.

Forecasting Design Determines Outcomes

For $10M–$100M companies, capturing seasonal demand variability accurately requires modern planning workflows.

AI-native systems enable procurement decisions aligned with demand variability.

See how AI-native planning improves capturing seasonal demand variability.

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