Predictive Analytics is making its entry into the toolbox of small companies. Predictive Analysis is a three-part formula- analysis of past performance of situation under consideration, understanding the present and applying the past to present to predict the future. For small businesses, it can be applied for customer retention, target marketing, demand forecasting, and overall marketing. However, it is crucial to ascertain the purpose for using Predictive Analysis, as the technology may not necessarily be right for every company or for every situation in the small business sector. Read more at: http://www.smallbusinesscomputing.com/News/Marketing/can-predictive-analytics-help-your-small-business.html

For any business, demand forecasting is an important function. Demand Forecasting is the activity of estimating the quantity of a product or service that consumers will purchase in near future. It helps you to order inventory and arrange staff for fulfilling customers need.

According to Peter Daisyme (Co-founder of Hostt), some ways to make demand forecasting more accurate are:

• Use the right set of data for making decisions.
• Consider the variables like the seasonal trend, random trend, economic conditions, etc.
• Know your customers and business.
• Each year, you should refine your demand forecasting technique.
Read more at: http://www.entrepreneur.com/article/244823

Agile practices can help companies navigate in this dynamic global economic environment. However, only a few companies are adopting these practices to improve their supply-chain performance and their results show the benefits that they achieve from them.

According to a research conducted by McKinsey of over 250 global companies, across 5 industries, Companies with more agile supply-chain practices had service levels that were seven percentage points higher and inventory levels that were 23 days lower than their less agile peers did.  Those companies did well in areas such as demand forecasting, labor flexibility, and the optimal placement of inventory across distribution networks also.

An example of application of these agile practices is Amazon, which adjusts prices and inventory levels in real time in response to competitors’ moves, among other things.

To get more insights in this subject, read the following article by Raoul Dubeauclard, Kerstin Kubik, and Venu Nagali at mckinsey.com:

http://www.mckinsey.com/insights/operations/how_agile_is_your_supply_chain

TechSci Research (a global market research and consulting company), recently published a report called “India Ready-to-eat Food Market Forecast & Opportunities, 2019". The report evaluated future growth prospect of India's Ready-to-eat food market. It provides statistics and information on market structure and consumer behavior trends and also includes projections and demand forecasting. This report will help decision makers to take sound investment evaluation. Besides, it also identifies and analyzes the emerging trends, challenges and opportunities available ready-to-eat food market in India. Read more at: : http://www.prnewswire.co.uk/news-releases/india-ready-to-eat-food-market-to-grow-at-22-during-2014-19-concludes-techsci-research-study-273568231.html