Edexcel-Sales Forecasting

Question 1

Sales forecasts

Answer 1

Predict future revenues based on past sales figures

Question 2

Seasonal

Answer 2

Demands for certain goods are seasonal

Question 3

Seasonal example

Answer 3

Christmas trees

Question 4

Fashion

Answer 4

Short term impacts

Question 5

Fashion example

Answer 5

Celebrity influence

Question 6

Long term trends

Answer 6

Consumer behaviour, attitudes and spending habits

Question 7

Long term trends example

Answer 7

Environmental conscious

Question 8

Economic growth

Answer 8

Increased consumer income leads to higher forecast sales

Question 9

Inflation increases

Answer 9

Leads to lower forecast sales

Question 10

Inflation decreases

Answer 10

Higher forecast sales

Question 11

Unemployment

Answer 11

Increased unemployment leads to lower forecast sales as people have less money to spend on non essentials.

Question 12

Interest rates

Answer 12

If rise then sales forecast downwards for businesses which sell on credit as borrowing becomes more expensive

Question 13

Exchange rates

Answer 13

If British pound increases then things become cheaper so businesses selling overseas or too tourists adjust sales forecasts upwards

Question 14

Competitors short term actions example

Answer 14

Sales promotions

Question 15

Competitors long term actions example

Answer 15

Changes to product ranges

Question 16

Difficulties of sales forecasting

Answer 16

Future does not always mirror the past which is were most of the data is taken from
Too much data which isn’t entirely accurate
Rarely able to include full range of external factors