Case Study: Walgreens boosts forecast accuracy and in-stock levels with Zebra's AI-powered demand forecasting

Walgreens Leverages Zebra’s AI-Powered Demand Forecasting to Thrive in Volatile Markets

Walgreens, the retail pharmacy serving millions of customers across 8,000+ stores, faced the challenge of forecasting demand across 20,000+ SKUs per location in a volatile market. Traditional methods couldn’t keep up with rapidly changing consumer behavior, external influences, and seasonal spikes, so Walgreens turned to Zebra and its Zebra Workcloud Forecasting & Analysis solution.

Zebra implemented AI-powered forecasting that incorporated external data such as weather, social trends, local events, and economic signals to create more accurate demand plans and improve inventory allocation. As a result, Walgreens cut forecast error by 15 percentage points, reduced over-forecasting from 15% to 1%, lowered human intervention by 50%, and maintained 98% in-stock levels during demand surges, boosting customer satisfaction and operational efficiency.

Walgreens

Andy Kettlewell

Vice President Inventory and Analytics