METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR EVALUATING CONSUMER DEMAND FOR MULTIPLE PRODUCTS AND SERVICES AT REMOTELY LOCATED EQUIPMENT

摘要

A method and system (40) are provided for estimating consumer demand at remotely located equipment (12) and establishing dispatch schedules for servicing the 5 remotely located equipment (12). Data (320) from the remotely located equipment (12) may be classified into a hierarchy or various levels of reliability for use in calculating a consumer demand estimate for each product and/or each service available at the remotely located equipment (12). A 10 full set of sales data for each product or service over multiple time intervals with no equipment problems, no out of stock conditions and no other operating problems may be classified as the highest level of reliability and predictability possible for calculating a consumer demand 15 estimate. The lowest level of data used to calculate a consumer demand estimate may be a historical average of daily sales for all products or services sold over a long period of time at the remotely located equipment (12).