When lockdown first struck, consumers initially stocked up on staples like eggs, flour, pasta and toilet paper in huge volumes. At the same time, visits to pubs and restaurants came to an abrupt halt, resulting in a fundamental shakeup of long-established patterns of demand.
For suppliers of such products, this meant a rapid realignment of supply chains to meet the new demand. Because egg supply is naturally constrained by the production capacity of the flocks, there were shortages for a few weeks until the initial surge in demand had subsided. Under such circumstances, having the ability to model future supply and demand accurately, and to reallocate supply from hospitality outlets to shops and supermarkets easily is vital to ensuring that the eggs make it to where they are most needed.
Stonegate Farmers is the country's largest dedicated supplier of organic and free range eggs, including their own premium Clarence Court brand. They have been a Compas user since 2019, and found it a godsend when faced with the unprecedented turmoil in their market. The system builds a daily forecast of egg supply by type and size of egg. As soon as the sales forecasts are updated, Compas instantly reallocates the available supply to demand using a sophisticated algorithm, highlighting gaps and indicating opportunities to redeploy surpluses in certain products.
Although it could do nothing about the initial shortfall in overall supply, Compas enabled Stonegate Farmers to provide the best possible service to their customers and the UK consumer under very difficult circumstances. For Stonegate, it gave them excellent visibility of future supply and demand at all times, including the financial implications. Future enhancements will enable them to identify and address shortages in packaging materials which could constrain supply.
“We have been very happy with the performance of Compas, which has helped us to navigate through a rapidly evolving and dynamic period. Predicting consumer patterns with accuracy not only ensures continuity of supply, it also ensures that our entire operation, from production and packing to distribution and marketing, is focused and optimised.” - Finance Director, Stonegate Farmers
Read the whole story on Retail Times and see the case study of the original work on this site.