Beat Plan All Spring, Overstocked by Summer

🧾 Overstock Hides Between Two Numbers

A brand we work with sold eight figures more than they forecast from January through April. The retailers had bought way ahead of what they were selling through, so they stopped ordering. A consumption forecast can't see that coming, and the overstock was on pallets months before it showed in the plan.

The fix is comparing what you ship against what sells through. When shipments run ahead for a few weeks, product is piling up at the retailer and you still have time to slow orders. Confido's demand planning tracks both.

💬 Q&A with Confido's CEO, Justin

Q: Compliance fines keep climbing as we grow. Everyone tells me they're just a cost of doing business. Are they?

A: They're built to feel that way. Walmart's OTIF deducts 3% of cost of goods on cases that show up late or short, no warning, and most major retailers run a version of the same machine.

But fines cluster. Sort a year of them by retailer and fine type and the same two or three codes repeat. Some of the fines are wrong, and you can dispute those. The ones that keep repeating are worth raising when you sit down with the retailer: fix whatever keeps causing them, or ask for the money back in the trade agreement you're already negotiating. Almost nobody does this, because most brands never sort their fines by type, so nobody sees the repeats.

New in Supply Planning: the workspace now shows its work

What's new. You can run data syncs yourself now, with live progress, a picker for what to pull, and a history log. Snapshots get stamped with the date the inventory was actually true, and that date only moves when every sync step succeeds. Order rows split planned from actual, so a half-shipped PO reads as what landed plus what's still open, and new Fulfillments and Receipts tabs show the raw ERP lines underneath.

The payoff. When the plan says 400 units are coming, you can see which sync said so and what actually landed. Fewer "does this tie out" threads.

New in Demand Planning: send someone to the exact row

What's new. Links can now carry planning coordinates: planning group, DC, product. Paste one in Slack and your colleague lands on that node instead of clicking down the tree. Alerts have deep-linked since July; now you can make these links yourself. "Look at Kroger club packs in the Southeast DC" becomes a link instead of directions.

🔧 Want the Full Change Log?

This newsletter covers the highlights. Under the hood, product updates land every week: dozens of new features, fixes, and the small workflow improvements.

🤝 Confido’s Referral Program

Send us an introduction and receive $1,000 once a meeting is booked. If they close, receive up to 5% of Year 1 ACV.

Know someone who could benefit from Confido? We’d love to connect! ➡️ Submit referrals at the link below: