Deckers

This report illustrates the forecasting process at Deckers as outlined in the forecasting and supply chain management at deckers case study. Deckers carries 3 different categories of products, such as carry over items from previous sales periods, new items that are similar to previous products and items that are of completely new design. Overall, this report investigates how Deckers is forecasting demand for these products and how Deckers establishes its supply chain and sales around these forecasts. Firstly, the report investigates how a typical forecasting process at Deckers looks like. However, it quickly becomes clear that there is no one single standard forecasting approach for each of these products, which is mainly due to the availability of historical sales data and the very seasonal character that most of Deckers products have. Products that are of new design usually have no historical data available that could be used to predict future demand. Hence, best guess judgments by experts are required, which often take market information or trends into consideration. A very reliable indicator is usually pre-ordered sales volumes from existing customers.
As the forecasting process outlined above can become very complex, especially since data needs to be integrated from different departments such as the sales department, inventory and warehouse department, marketing, market research as well as controlling and management, this report investigates how technology can contribute and support deckers.