Case Study: Harris Farm Markets achieves accurate demand forecasting and reduced waste with DataRobot

Harris Farm Markets Taps DataRobot for Demand Forecasting

Harris Farm Markets, a New South Wales grocery retailer specializing in fresh produce with more than 25 stores and roughly 20,000 SKUs (about 1,200 concurrent fresh SKUs), faced highly volatile demand due to seasonality, wildfires and COVID-driven spikes. To move beyond manual “touch, feel, see” buying, Harris Farm Markets engaged DataRobot to implement an AI/ML forecasting platform for more reliable, data-driven demand predictions.

DataRobot rolled out an automated forecasting pipeline—starting with ~100 models and integrating nightly scoring into Harris Farm’s buyers’ app—then scaled to 400 demand-forecast deployments and 30 customer-number forecasts using 25 hourly and 5 daily models. The solution delivered more accurate predictions, faster responses, significantly reduced wastage and costs, and an estimated tenfold increase in forecasting capacity, enabling Harris Farm Markets to better manage perishable inventory.

Harris Farm Markets

Phil Cribb

Head of IT