Easily Manage Product Replacements
You can now seamlessly replace a product with another in SKU Science. This feature is particularly useful when introducing an updated version of an existing product — whether due to packaging changes, new features, recipe adjustments, or the addition of a similar item to your product range.
By linking products together, the new product inherits the historical data from the discontinued one. This ensures continuity and helps compensate for the lack of sales history for the new item, enabling more accurate forecasting from day one.
How to Manage Product Transitions in SKU Science
First method: Using the Product Life Cycle Editor
To set up a product transition, click on the gear icon and navigate to the Product life cycle menu. From there, you can easily manage product replacements and ensure smooth transitions in your forecasting process.
Type in or select the source part number to be replaced from the drop-down menu.
Fill in the end date for the current source product to end the forecast from this period. Then, enter the name for the new target part number, specify a start date and optionally provide its description.
Next, choose the conversion ratio (%) and click save.
A conversion ratio of 100% means the new target product will inherit 100% of the historical demand data from the original source product, which will be used to calculate its forecast.
Once saved, a new line will appear displaying the details of the new product.
Forecast Recalculation Required at Aggregate Level
After linking products together, you will receive a warning prompting you to recompute the forecast, as some elements may be missing forecast data.
This step is essential if you compute forecasts at an aggregate level, to ensure the impact of both the source and target products is properly reflected in the forecast.
Click on the warning, a pop-up window appear to launch forecast computation. Make sure the box is ticked and your usual aggregation is selected before clicking Confirm & Launch.
Impact on Source and Target Part Numbers
The source part number is discontinued as of the specified end date. You can find more details about this process in this article.
The target part number becomes active from the indicated start date. Since it is a new product, its initial demand is set to zero due to the absence of sales history. However, demand projections are automatically calculated based on the historical demand of the source product, adjusted by the defined conversion ratio.
Note
During the following cycles, the target will generate its own demand, which will accumulate over time. At the same time, the remaining stock from the source will continue to be sold for a certain period.
To keep the forecast accurate, the platform will automatically add up the demand data from both the source and the target in the target’s demand adjustment. This ensures that both quantities are taken into account when calculating the target's forecast.
Add Multiple Source Products
If you are replacing several products with a single new product, our platform allows you to link multiple source products easily.
When setting up your new product, simply click on Add Source. An additional line will appear, enabling you to enter the details for each source product. This ensures that the new product inherits the combined historical demand from all sources, adjusted according to each product’s conversion ratio.
Fill in the second source part number, its end date, and the conversion ratio then, click save.
In this example, part number 0011-3b has two source part numbers and will inherit 50% of the historical demand from each of them.
How to Manage Multiple Forecasts for a Single Part Number
If your low-level forecast is composed of multiple fields and the part number is not the lowest level of granularity (for example, part number x location, part number x client, or any other refined combination), our platform will automatically handle this complexity for you and generate the corresponding forecasts for each combination.
In the example below, product 033-2 is sold in three locations: Milan, London, and Madrid.
We plan to replace 033-2 with 033-2b in May 2025. The new product will automatically inherit the same three forecast combinations, corresponding to the existing locations. You can click on the target part number to open a pop-up window displaying the full list of combinations.
Second method: Using the Data Upload Wizard
Prepare your file
You can download our specific template from this Google sheet or from this Excel file. If you don't know how to copy a Google sheet, you can get help here.
The first tab can be used as a template to fill, and the second tab provides detailed examples to help.
To manage product transitions the mode to use is "Switch".
In this example Part number 044-1 will be discontinued at the end of December (the effective 'End Date' being the first period with a zero forecast) and replaced by reference 045-1, which will start at the beginning of January. This is a one-to-one replacement.
00-2 and 00-3 will be discontinued at the end of December 2025 and will be replaced by a single reference (00-4). This new reference will take half of the historical data from each source.
Upload the Product Life Cycle information into SKU Science
Click on the gear icon and select Data upload wizard.
Click on the Upload Lifecycle button.
Select your file, and follow the wizard instructions.
The column of the template will be mapped automatically, if incorrect modify by selecting the right column in the dropdown.
Verify the date and quantity format.
Click confirm to launch the upload process.
Note: If the target part number already exists in your account and you want to perform a retroactive switch, you can do so by entering a past date.
If you plan to perform a future phase-in / phase-out and the target part number does not yet exist in your account, it will be automatically created, along with all underlying combinations (if any).
If you have any questions or need help setting this up, don’t hesitate to contact us through the messenger — we’re here to support you!