Forum Brands Launches Free SaaS Tool to Automate Demand Planning for Amazon Brands

Forum Brands, the world’s most technology-driven e-commerce operating platform, today announced the launch of Crystal, a tool for Fulfillment-by-Amazon (FBA) sellers that provides unprecedented automation and analytics to unlock more effective inventory purchasing, all at no cost to users. The tool has powered Forum’s portfolio of brands over the last twelve months, enabling smarter inventory decisions to drive efficient growth amid a turbulent supply chain environment. The new resource is the first of its kind that is offered free of charge to FBA sellers. It generates demand forecasts that are critical for users to successfully plan and minimize out-of-stock or surplus inventory scenarios.  

Online sellers dealing with inventory shortages have reported an estimated $1 trillion in losses each year. The current supply chain disruptions only increase that burden. 

Crystal combats these challenges, optimizes revenue growth, and enables Amazon sellers to:

• Collect the necessary data for forecasting and purchasing, by SKU and geography, to improve inventory predictions and ultimately propel business growth.

• Gain access to a forecast that uses machine learning to optimize demand planning. 

• Produce a range of three separate forecasts (P90, P70, and P50) to help businesses evaluate how much inventory to purchase through multiple scenarios to account for uncertainty in business cycles. 

“Online sellers have all experienced the effects of supply chain disruptions. That’s why we developed Crystal, a free tool to help entrepreneurs combat inventory issues. The solution allows businesses to effectively plan ahead, optimize revenue growth, and be successful,” said Alex Kopco, co-founder and COO of Forum Brands. “Crystal is just the first piece of a larger puzzle Forum is implementing that will revolutionize the e-commerce landscape for both new and experienced sellers alike.”

Crystal aims to alleviate some of the biggest challenges ecommerce sellers face. “With Crystal generated forecasts, we reduced our out of stock rate from 15% to less than 3% across our entire catalog, from hero products to new launches and our long-tail ASINs,” said Dylan Abraham, Forum’s Director of Logistics.  “We’ve also been able to effectively control our working capital investments, increasing our efficiency in spend and storage fees. Not to mention the business efficiencies gained. We’ve saved so much time moving to an automated system rather than the manual Excel processes ubiquitous for companies of all sizes.”

Aligned with its mission to support e-commerce sellers’ success, Forum is offering Crystal free of charge to support this community of entrepreneurs. The company will continue to strategically deploy millions of dollars in capital to acquire and operate the highest quality consumer durable brands. In parallel, Forum is expanding its investment into SaaS tools that support the e-commerce ecosystem with broader reach and impact.

”Inaccurate inventory planning has serious cost repercussions in the ecommerce industry. If we had the ability to use a tool like Crystal’s automated forecasting, we would have been able to avoid losing between $250,000 and $300,000 in sales due to stock outs in 2021 and thousands more in excess storage fees,” said Paul Baron, creator of Beau & Belle Littles. “The tool is really simple and user friendly. Crystal uses my Seller Central data to predict my future sales. My demand planning process with Crystal is so much more streamlined as I know the perfect amount to spend on the right products to keep my customers happy"

This launch is the latest in a series of significant milestones from Forum as it continues to scale its e-commerce operating platform and expand internationally. Last year, the company announced $100M in financing just two months after the company’s $27M Series A.

For Fulfillment-By-Amazon (FBA) sellers interested in using Crystal, please visit https://crystal.forumbrands.com/

About Forum Brands

Forum Brands is the world’s most technology-driven e-commerce operating platform. Using its proprietary technology and SEAL (Source, Evaluate, Accelerate, Lead) system, Forum buys Amazon FBA businesses in categories that consumers love and builds them into leading omni channel brands. Forum provides entrepreneurs with efficient and lucrative opportunities to sell their business - they share in the upside as Forum builds a long-term legacy for the brand they built from scratch. The team brings expertise from Amazon, Target.com, McKinsey, TA Associates, Cove Hill Partners and more. Forum Brands is backed by world-class investors including Norwest Venture Partners, TriplePoint Capital, NFX, and Concrete Rose, and is headquartered in New York, New York. For more information, please visit forumbrands.com.  

Contact Information

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