An appreciation of alternative sales forecasting models: Recent techniques based on historical data

The subject of statistical sales forecasting has recently been brought to prominence as a major area of management decision-making by the growth of a substantive literature and the establishment of several research groups to investigate the building of forecasting models. Whilst a lot of attention has been focused on the relatively newer disciplines of technological forecasting and multiple-equation model building of macro-economic systems, statistical sales forecasting methods have also been subject to considerable development and a number of radically new techniques have emerged. The authors believe that it is timely to review the current ‘state of the art’ of sales forecasting methodology. This study examines a wide range of models in use although it is not intended as a comprehensive guide.