Machine learning-based sales forecasting during crises: Evidence from a Turkish women's clothing retailer

Background: Retail involves directly delivering goods and services to end consumers. Natural disasters and epidemics/pandemics have significant potential to disrupt supply chains, leading to shortages, forecasting errors, price increases, and substantial financial strains on retailers. The COVID-19 pandemic highlighted the need for retail sectors to prepare for crisis impacts on sales forecasts by regularly assessing and adjusting sales volumes, consumer behavior, and forecasting models to adapt to changing conditions. Methods: This study explores strategies for adapting sales forecasts and retail approaches in response to such crises. By employing different machine learning (ML) methods, we analyze consumer behavior changes and sales impacts across various product categories, including bottom wear, top wear, one piece, accessories, outwear, and shoes during the COVID-19 pandemic. Results: The gradient boosting and CatBoost algorithms excelled in product groups with significant sales changes during the pandemic. The Multi-Layer Perceptron (MLP) algorithm performed well in low-volume categories like accessories and footwear. Meanwhile, MLP, LightGBM, and XGBoost were effective in medium-volume categories such as outerwear and underwear. Conclusion: The findings highlight the efficacy of these models in adapting sales forecasts to crisis conditions, offering a practical approach to enhancing retail resilience against future disruptions. This study offers an effective approach for adapting sales forecasting to shifting consumer behaviors during crises.