Case Study

Challenge

With a lack of planning tools on hand and an outdated forecasting system in place, Lonely Planet was lacking structure and their printing expenditure was far higher than necessary. With an absence of accurate forecasting and a lack of ability to plan improvements and test their effectiveness, scanned sales data could not be entirely utilised.

Solution

Described as the ‘world’s smallest global company” by the company’s global logistics manager Andrew Leggatt, and due to the short shelf life of Lonely Planet Books, it was important that a system was introduced that could aid in a higher turnover of publications. When Demand Solutions stepped in, it took just three months to implement a new forecasting system. This saw the company begin to outsource to a warehouse in Singapore, save money on printing and freight costs and use lifestyle curves and interpolation reports to plan scenarios and gain data.

As a result of these system improvements, forecast accuracy has jumped from 10% three years ago to 60% today.