That is, until customers starting getting more particular about toothpicks and car choices. They wanted something different. To figure out what customers really wanted, business owners conducted market research.
They discovered a demand for toothpicks pointed on both ends, round toothpicks, longer toothpicks, toothpicks with colored tinsel on the end, colored toothpicks, plastic toothpicks, plastic toothpicks with a bent end and toothpicks with dental floss bridged across the end. People wanted the same kind of variety in cars also.
Marketing activities not only defined customer demand, they created it by causing new products to be designed and developed that hadn't even been requested. This new demand required sophisticated forecasting methods so materials would be available for manufacture when needed.