Business planner

• US 8,108,249 B2
• Filed: 11/22/2002
• Issued: 01/31/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 12/04/2001
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Kimberly-Clark Worldwide Incorporated (Kimberly-Clark Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Kimberly-Clark Worldwide Incorporated (Kimberly-Clark Corporation)
• Inventors: Schroeder, Glenn George, Klim, Angela Kay, Heinz, George Murray, Phillips, Kelly Loren, Raynor, William James Jr., Sengbusch, Brett David, Lindsay, Jeffrey Dean
• Primary Examiner(s): CHOI, PETER H
• Application Number:
  US10/302,406
• Publication Number:
  US 20030130883A1
• Time in Patent Office: 3,357 Days
• Field of Search: 705/8, 705/10, 705/7.37, 705/7.31, 705/7.38, 705/14.13, 705/14, 707/100
• US Class Current: 705/7.37
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/04 Forecasting or optimisation specially adapted for administrative or management purposes, e.g. linear programming or "cutting stock problem" market predictions or forecasting for commercial activities G06Q30/0202
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/06 Resources, workflows, human or project management; Enterprise or organisation planning; Enterprise or organisation modelling
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/06375 Prediction of business process outcome or impact based on a proposed change
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/0639 Performance analysis of employees; Performance analysis of enterprise or organisation operations
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0201 Market modelling; Market analysis; Collecting market data
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0202 Market predictions or forecasting for commercial activities
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0205 Location or geographical consideration
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 30/0211 Determining the effectiveness of discounts or incentives

Abstract

A method and system for predicting the profit attributable to a proposed sales promotion of a product, wherein the product has a wholesale price and a manufacturing cost per unit sales, including establishing a base volume for sales of the product in the absence of promotions; determining a sales lift for the plurality of single promotions; and correlating the sales lift with promotion information to provide a sales lift model. The method and system also include proposing a promotion having a cost per unit sales for a promotion time period and having a planned sale price for the product; applying the sales lift model to the proposed promotion to predict sales of the product for the promotion time period; and calculating manufacturer profit based upon the product'"'"'s predicted sales, cost per unit sales for promotion, wholesale price, and manufacturing cost per unit sales during the promotion time period.

Claims

1. A method for predicting the profit attributable to a proposed sales promotion of a product, wherein the product has a wholesale price and a manufacturing cost per unit sales, the method comprising using a computer to perform the following steps:

establishing a base volume for sales of the product in the absence of promotions, wherein the establishing act includes performing non-parametric regression of historical shipping data;

determining a sales lift for a plurality of single promotions;

correlating the sales lift with promotion information to provide a sales lift model;

proposing a promotion having a cost per unit sales for a promotion time period and having a planned sale price for the product;

applying the sales lift model to the proposed promotion to predict sales of the product for the promotion time period;

calculating manufacturer profit based upon the product'"'"'s predicted sales, cost per unit sales for promotion, wholesale price, and manufacturing cost per unit sales during the promotion time period.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the promotion is selected from the group consisting of a temporary price reduction, a distributed coupon campaign, an in-store coupon campaign, a loyalty card promotion, a rebate, and an advertised price reduction.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the promotion is selected from the group consisting of a sweepstakes, a free gift offered with purchase of the product, and an attached coupon for reduced cost for another service or product.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising determining the expected cost incurred by customer forward buying based upon past forward buying behavior.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the establishing act includes analyzing point-of-sale data from at least one time period lacking a promotion.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the establishing act includes analyzing product shipping data.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the establishing act includes Kalman filtering historical shipping data.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the establishing act further comprises:

obtaining a time series of shipping data;

normalizing the time series;

truncating large peaks in the time series associated with promotions;

applying a numerical tool to the time series selected from a dynamic linear model or a Kalman filter;

performing regression on the time series to obtain regression estimates;

smoothing the regression estimates; and

applying the regression estimates to predict base volume for the promotion time period.

9. The method of claim 1, further comprising modeling cross elasticity between products.

10. The method of claim 1, further comprising modeling cross elasticity between brands.

11. The method of claim 1, further comprising modeling cross elasticity between products from different vendors.

12. The method of claim 1, further comprising providing historical point-of-sale data for the product or a related product category during a time period including a plurality of single promotions.

13. A method for predicting the profit attributable to a proposed sales promotion of a product, wherein the product has a wholesale price and a manufacturing cost per unit sales, the method comprising using a computer to perform the following steps:

establishing a base volume for sales of the product in the absence of promotions, wherein the establishing act includes Kalman filtering historical shipping data;

determining a sales lift for a plurality of single promotions;

correlating the sales lift with promotion information to provide a sales lift model;

proposing a promotion having a cost per unit sales for a promotion time period and having a planned sale price for the product;

applying the sales lift model to the proposed promotion to predict sales of the product for the promotion time period;

calculating manufacturer profit based upon the product'"'"'s predicted sales, cost per unit sales for promotion, wholesale price, and manufacturing cost per unit sales during the promotion time period.

14. A method for predicting the profit attributable to a proposed sales promotion of a product, wherein the product has a wholesale price and a manufacturing cost per unit sales, the method comprising using a computer to perform the following steps:

establishing a base volume for sales of the product in the absence of promotions, wherein the establishing act further comprises;

obtaining a time series of shipping data;

normalizing the time series;

truncating large peaks in the time series associated with promotions;

applying a numerical tool to the time series selected from a dynamic linear model or a Kalman filter;

performing regression on the time series to obtain regression estimates;

smoothing the regression estimates; and

applying the regression estimates to predict base volume for the promotion time period;

determining a sales lift for a plurality of single promotions;

correlating the sales lift with promotion information to provide a sales lift model;

proposing a promotion having a cost per unit sales for a promotion time period and having a planned sale price for the product;

applying the sales lift model to the proposed promotion to predict sales of the product for the promotion time period;

calculating manufacturer profit based upon the product'"'"'s predicted sales, cost per unit sales for promotion, wholesale price, and manufacturing cost per unit sales during the promotion time period.