Across the board all interview participants expressed the importance of getting demand data both from customers and to suppliers. While having real-time, point-of-sales, demand data transfer is best practice, interview participants (especially those not in involved in the retail sector) indicated that this is a challenge within most industries. While receiving real-time POS data may not be realistic for their industry, some indicate that they are actively using POS even if there is a delay in getting the information. Others worked with third-party data providers such as Nielson to purchase POS data for their products.