Frequently Asked Questions
What is Weather-Driven Demand (WDD)?
- The measured impact of weather on comp sales ("lift" or "drag")
- It is a numerical representation of the consumer need for a product or service caused by perceived changes in the weather at a time/location intersection
- It does not include any factors other than weather (e.g. price, competition, etc.)
- Expressed as percent change from the previous year, either favorable (positive) or unfavorable (negative) for each product or service (e.g. "foot traffic")
- Derived through detailed analysis of product demand, correlated to weather data, and presented at the week and location level
What is DeweatherizationSM?
Deweatherization is a proprietary optimization process that objectively removes the influence of weather from historical sales by product or service, by market and by time period. The process does not involve the use of weather forecasts, rather it leverages Planalytics market-level weather-driven demand models and climate-change adjusted seasonality averages to remove the error inherent in historical sales curves.
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What is WeatherizationSM?
The term Weatherization refers to how short-term changes in market and regional weather conditions drive sudden and dramatic increases (and decreases) in consumer demand and store traffic. The disruptions to the supply chain triggered by these weather-driven demand spikes result in abrupt and costly organizational reactions. Planalytics Weatherization processes and applications provide businesses with levers that allow them to take on a proactive, forward-leaning approach to disruptive weather-driven demand events.
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What is Planalytics' Product Library?
Planalytics' Product Library contains over 300 syndicated/generic weather-driven demand models representative of category-level weather-driven demand (for softlines, hardlines, consumables, lawn and garden, beauty and healthcare, etc.). Used as off-the-shelf planning guidance (when mapped to a customer’s store locations and fiscal calendar) or as a benchmark from which to compare company specific demand patterns. The entire Planalytics Product Library is recalculated nightly for the most up-to-date performance data available.
Click here request a Complimentary Product analysis from our Product Library.
For companies buying natural gas, what is Optimized Volume-Based HedgingSM?
Planalytics' Optimized Volume-Based Hedging is a risk management approach that companies use to acquire the natural gas it needs by systematically layering in its buys/hedges at cost effective price points across a customized time horizon. The approach which can be extended across Planalytics' 18-month view of the market, significantly reduces risk by limiting the negative impact of any poorly timed buying decisions. The approach allows companies to accumulate natural gas on days when market movements make current prices attractive. Planalytics determines if prices are undervalued or overvalued from comprehensive modeling technologies that incorporate the impacts of weather, supply and demand fundamentals, global financial and economic variables and technical trading.
For companies forecasting power demand, what is the Power Weather IndexSM ?
The Power Weather Index (PWI) is the percentage change in weather-driven electric power demand for the week, month or season versus the corresponding period of the previous year. The Power Weather Index is available for the U.S. as a whole, by North American Electric Reliability Corporation (NERC) regions and subregions and for major metropolitan areas. Developed from actual generation data that captures regional and seasonal differences, the PWI expresses expected year-on-year change in power demand directly attributable to weather at a specific time/location intersection.
What is the Normalized Differential Vegetation Index (NDVI)?
NDVI is calculated from the visible and near-infrared light reflected by vegetation. Healthy vegetation absorbs most of the visible light that hits it and reflects a large portion of the near-infrared light. Unhealthy senescing or sparse vegetation reflects more visible light and less infrared light. These values are used to calculate "Greenness".
How are the Planalytics GreenReport and Yield Forecasts generated?
Produced in collaboration with Terrametrics Agriculture, Inc., Planalytics GreenReport and Yield Forecasts use the Normalized Differential Vegetation Index (NDVI) to track and compare biomass against last week, last year, and against "normal". With over 20 years of satellite-generated weekly NDVI maps in our database, this is an extremely valuable resource for monitoring crop conditions, including the effects of pests, disease, and weather factors on plant health. Crop Yield Forecasts are generated by correlating these weekly NDVI values against historic, end-of-season USDA yield results, enabling us to produce remarkably accurate yield estimates earlier, and updated more frequently, than other crop estimates.
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