Firm-level sales forecasts for retailers can be improved if we incorporate cost of goods sold, inventory, and gross margin (defined by us as the ratio of sales to cost of goods sold) as three endogenous variables. We construct a simultaneous equations model, estimated using public financial and...

Introduction -- Retail valuation : how investors value product availability and inventory management -- Assortment planning : mining sales data to discover "home run" products you are missing -- Product life cycle planning : how to reinvent forecasting, inventory optimization, and markdown...