Anyone that’s taken a Market Strategy course in business school knows this issue all too well. It’s very hard to predict the future and time + correct for demand, and once you fall out of sync it’s like a pendulum that swings wider and wider.

What most people don’t realize is how far in advance decisions for production volume are made and how greatly demand might vary (even there is no external factor like a pandemic) once those shipments hit retailers. The only guarantee is you’ll never get it right, it’s merely a question of how far off you’ll be and in what direction.