Method 12: Exponential Smoothing with Trend and Seasonality

This method calculates a trend, a seasonal index, and an exponentially smoothed average from the sales order history. The system then applies a projection of the trend to the forecast and adjusts for the seasonal index.

This method requires the number of periods best fit plus two years of sales data, and is useful for items that have both trend and seasonality in the forecast. You can enter the alpha and beta factor, or have the system calculate them. Alpha and beta factors are the smoothing constant that the system uses to calculate the smoothed average for the general level or magnitude of sales (alpha) and the trend component of the forecast (beta).