A Guide to Using AI for Long-Range Category Forecasting in Retail

Long-range category forecasting has traditionally relied on trend extrapolation and planner intuition. AI changes the equation — but only if you understand what it can and can’t do at the category level.

This technical summary covers the data foundations required for AI-driven long-range forecasting, the model architectures that work best for retail category planning, and the practical deployment considerations that determine whether a forecasting model actually gets used by the planning team.

Written for planning leaders and technical stakeholders evaluating AI forecasting capabilities.