Abstract
In modern days’ dynamic consumer markets, supply chains need
to be value driven and consumer oriented. Demand planning
allows supply chain members to focus on the consumer and
create optimal value. In demand planning, point-of-sale (POS)
data is an essential input to the process thereof; however,
literature suggests that POS-based demand planning is often
overlooked by demand planners in practice. The main purpose
of this study was to determine the extent to which South
African clothing retailers use POS data in demand planning. This
study followed the grounded theory approach based on the
collection of qualitative data. Findings suggest that
companies within the clothing retail industry make
considerable use of POS data as a fundamental input factor in
the demand planning process. However, this study also found
that POS data cannot be applied in the planning for all types of
clothing products, and that there are variables other than
POS data that form a critical part of the demand planning
process.