“Forecasting is a waste of a manager’s time because no one can actually predict the future”.
I disagree with this statement. To my mind, forecasting is crucial for marketers nowadays. It is the basis for the policies and business strategies. The future of the market is shaped with the help of forecasting. It is correct that the future cannot be predicted, but at least the forecasting creates an opportunity to evaluate the possible outcomes and address them before something negative happens.
In our globalising world, the markets are becoming broader and bigger. The number of clients involved is large, and the outcomes of using the wrong strategy in the process of trading can result in a huge loss of income. A good manager should always monitor the changes in the market carefully and follow all the new tendencies in order to be able to develop a flexible marketing system that would respond to all the issues and address the problems as soon as they occur without creating damage and losing money.
Contemporary marketing is all about strategies and tactics. This is why simply waiting for visible changes in the market field to occur and then reacting to them and formulating a response is going to be highly non-profitable for the company and for the traders.
Monitoring the changes in the market, and the economic situation, in general, is what helps the suppliers establish the prices. In cases when the prices are too high and do not match the expectations of the potential customers, the companies may lose their clients. If the prices are too low, this leads to the inevitable loss of capitals. In both situations, the company ends up losing income, and it is the fault of the people that were supposed to be involved in the forecasting of the market.
The forecasting is the base element of the market analysis (Berry 2014). It allows the managers to collect the data for the planning of the future strategy. The analysis is done in order to determine the number of potential clients in the target market. The number of clients makes it possible for organisations to learn the approximate level of income and revenue in advance. Such an analysis could cover the periods of time lasting for several years.
Of course, the numbers received by means of such forecasting are estimates. It is true that no one can predict the future and count the precise data because markets are changeable. Any kinds of circumstances may occur and create a positive or negative impact on the further development of the markets and affect the possible number of future customers. Yet, the numbers received through the forecast give the managers of the company an approximate idea of the future, and knowing the future, even vaguely, is highly empowering. The forecast is normally based on the changes that happen in similar markets or on the latest and the most popular tendencies (Forecasting and Business Trends 2014).
The managers collect the data for the forecasts looking at what happened in a certain market within the last several years. They find patterns of growth or decrease and can predict future success or downfall.
The traders need to be aware of the developments within the markets and take things under control. In the contemporary world, the process of globalisation keeps going without people being in charge. This is why I think that the aspects of marketing that can be predicted and counted should be managed.
Reference List
Berry, T. (2014). What Is a Market Forecast? Web.
Forecasting and Business Trends. (2014). Business Studies. Web.