The marketing manager for an established retailer of men's clothing is developing a sales forecast for the coming year. The manager constructs a graph that shows the dollar sales for each of the previous ten years. He then draws a line on the graph that shows the general upward direction in which sales have moved over the ten-year period. He assumes that this general positive progression will continue into the next year, and uses that as the basis of his forecast. What method of sales forecasting does this manager seems to be using?
A) Tries to extend past experience into the future.
B) Provides a historical record of the fluctuations in economic variables.
C) Relates the company's sales to the factor method and uses several factors together.
D) Combines the opinions of many key executives in an industry.
E) None of the above.

Question

Quizplus · Accepted Answer

The manager appears to be using the trend analysis method of sales forecasting, which involves extrapolating past sales data into the future based on the direction and magnitude of the trend.

The Marketing Manager for an Established Retailer of Men's Clothing