Figure 2
The image shows a bar graph with a line graph embedded inside it. The vertical axis of the bar graph is labeled “Quantity,” and ranges from 0 to 4000 in increments of 1000. The horizontal axis shows the dates “01-20,” “03-20,” “05-20,” “07-20,” “09-20,” “11-20,” “01-21,” and “03-21.” The legend on the right shows that the bar indicates the actual sales, and the black and orange lines indicate “Benchmark Forecast” and “Retail data forecast,” respectively. The monthly “Actual sales” data from the bar graph is as follows: 01-20: Week 1: 403. 01-20: Week 2: 807. 01-20: Week 3: 807. 01-20: Week 4: 807. 02-20: Week 1: 807. 02-20: Week 2: 807. 02-20: Week 3: 807. 02-20: Week 4: 807. 03-20: Week 1: 1211. 03-20: Week 2: 1211. 03-20: Week 3: 2000. 03-20: Week 4: 1602. 04-20: Week 1: 794. 04-20: Week 2: 201. 04-20: Week 3: 416. 04-20: Week 4: 2000. 05-20: Week 1: 403. 05-20: Week 2: 403. 05-20: Week 3: 2000. 05-20: Week 4: 1577. 05-20: Week 5: 820. 06-20: Week 1: 2000. 06-20: Week 3: 416. 06-20: Week 4: 794. 07-20: Week 1: 794. 07-20: Week 2: 1211. 07-20: Week 3: 807. 07-20: Week 4: 807. 07-20: Week 5: 1211. 08-20: Week 1: 1211. 08-20: Week 2: 1211. 08-20: Week 3: 1211. 08-20: Week 4: 794. 09-20: Week 1: 794. 09-20: Week 2: 794. 09-20: Week 3: 794. 09-20: Week 4: 1223. 10-20: Week 1: 403. 10-20: Week 2: 1615. 10-20: Week 3: 1211. 10-20: Week 4: 1615. 10-20: Week 5: 0. 11-20: Week 1: 403. 11-20: Week 2: 403. 11-20: Week 3: 807. 11-20: Week 4: 807. 12-20: Week 1: 807. 12-20: Week 2: 807. 12-20: Week 3: 1198. 12-20: Week 4: 403. 12-20: Week 5: 807. 01-21: Week 1: 403. 01-21: Week 2: 794. 01-21: Week 3: 794. 01-21: Week 4: 794. 02-21: Week 1: 794. 02-21: Week 2: 794. 02-21: Week 3: 794. 02-21: Week 4: 4403. 03-21: Week 1: 1589. Both lines show a similar trend. They start in January 2020 and remain parallel to the horizontal axis till April 2020. From here, they steeply rise to form a broad peak, then fall, and continue steadily, and show a peak near the end. The data for both lines are as follows: Black line: Start at (04-20, 0), broad peak in the range fourth week of April (04-20, 2209) to fourth week of May (05-20, 2107), peak at the end: second last week of March 2021 (03-21, 1409), and ends at last week of March 2021 (03-21, 1333). Orange line: Start at (04-20, 0), broad peak in the range fourth week of April (04-20, 2361) to fourth week of May (05-20, 1739), peak at the end: second last week of March 2021 (03-21, 1981), and ends at last week of March 2021 (03-21, 1333). There is a distinct gray vertical area marked on the graph. These range from the third week of April, 2020 (04-20) to the third week of May, 2020 (05-20), the third week of June, 2020 (06-20) to the 4th week of July, 2020 (07-20), and the first week of October to the third week of October, 2020. Note: All numerical data values are approximated.Example product from ChemCo where forecast accuracy increased during promotions (promotion periods marked in grey). Source: Created by authors