Inventory Planner vs Lokad

Inventory Planner helps retailers, ecommerce brands, wholesalers, and discrete manufacturers forecast demand and decide what inventory to purchase. Its configurable models cover seasonal, non-seasonal, retail, and wholesale products, with automatic adjustments to sales patterns. For new products, forecasts can use sales data from similar items. Purchasing features include supplier management, minimum order quantities, and open-to-buy budgeting. The service recommends purchases and warehouse transfers across multiple locations, with a customizable forecast horizon and no stated SKU limit. Native integrations include Shopify, BigCommerce, Amazon, eBay, Brightpearl, Cin7, QuickBooks, and other sales, management, fulfillment, and accounting systems. Beta Stock Orders and Reports APIs provide real-time account data, but cannot accept product or variant data. It runs on the web and through an API. Pricing is on request; guided implementation and training are required.

Lokad is a supply chain decision platform that uses predictive analytics and optimization to guide purchasing, allocation, pricing and prioritization. Its probabilistic forecasts represent possible future scenarios, and it links recommendations to financial impact and business objectives. Lokad automates routine calculations such as reorder quantities, multi-echelon allocations, lead-time adjustments and repair schedules. Users can build decision-generating applications in Envision, Lokad’s supply-chain-focused programming language. The recommended data exchange is file transfer by FTPS or SFTP, with options to push or pull files; native integrations with third-party apps are being phased out. Lokad serves industries including retail, aerospace, automotive, fashion, oil and gas, and manufacturing. The platform runs on the web, and a managed subscription typically includes end-to-end support from one or more Supply Chain Scientists. Pricing is on request. A free trial can be requested by email, and the reduced Envision Playground is available without registration. Lokad was founded in Paris in 2008.