Common Mistakes in Capturing Events and Seasonality Impact on Demand Predictions for $10M–$100M Companies
Planning teams in $10M–$100M companies often struggle to capture seasonal demand cycles and promotional events accurately. This blog outlines the most common mistakes that introduce inventory and financial risk.
Why Forecasting Mistakes Increase at Mid-Market Scale
Companies in the $10M–$100M range frequently experience demand variability driven by promotional campaigns and seasonal buying behavior.
Capturing these demand drivers accurately becomes more difficult as SKU counts and promotional cadence increase.
Forecasting mistakes often stem from structural planning gaps.
Mistake 1: Averaging Seasonal Peaks
Blending seasonal demand spikes into baseline forecasts distorts consumption patterns.
Procurement decisions based on these projections lead to inventory misalignment.
Mistake 2: Manual Forecast Adjustments
Planners often rely on manual overrides to account for promotional campaigns.
These adjustments introduce inconsistency across planning cycles.
Manual overrides scale poorly as complexity increases.
Mistake 3: Ignoring SKU-Level Variability
Tracking demand seasonality at an aggregate level masks SKU-level volatility.
Inventory decisions executed at SKU-level granularity suffer.
Mistake 4: Disconnected Commercial Calendars
Promotional schedules often exist outside forecasting workflows.
Demand predictions fail to incorporate upcoming commercial events.
Mistake 5: Single-Point Forecasting
Relying on a single forecast projection increases procurement risk.
Scenario modeling is required to evaluate demand variability.
Avoiding Mistakes Requires Planning Redesign
For $10M–$100M companies, avoiding forecasting mistakes requires structured planning workflows.
Modern planning systems enable scalable event-aware forecasting.
Learn how AI-native planning eliminates structural forecasting mistakes.
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