Waitrose shifts from ‘historical sales and intuition’

The move extends the relationship between the two companies and marks the first use of artificial intelligence (AI) in Waitrose’s forecasting.

Waitrose supply chain director Alison Maffin, says: “Whether we are planning for a major sporting final or the first cold snap of the winter, there can be multiple factors affecting what our customers buy. The Blue Yonder solution will learn from previous experience and help us predict this more accurately so we can be confident we have the stock our customers want. This will allow us to produce a much more accurate forecast for our suppliers and logistics partners but will also result in less wastage and better availability for our customers.’

Rather than relying on historical sales data and human intuition, the AI forecasting capability – part of Blue Yonder Demand Planning – focuses on customer behaviour and analyses ‘why’ customers bought what they did rather than just ‘what’ they bought.

The capability is designed to ‘understand and learn’ from the trading environment to provide a better forecast based on customer behaviour. For example, how customers responded to a variety of influences including weather variations, major sporting and cultural events and promotions.

The upgrade is part of a significant investment in technology across Waitrose’s supply chain.