(i) Sales planning starts with the overall sales forecast made by Group Management (GM) at IKEA. The forecast is made at an aggregate level in terms of total sales volumes in monetary units for IKEA in total. It expresses the expected sales increase in percentages. The forecast is related to the strategic business plan, involving business cycle and market intelligence issues, and includes the remaining part of the current fiscal year plus five years into the future. The corporate sales plan is updated three times per year. At the other end of the sales planning process, demand planners at IoS provide forecasts for each of the 12 business areas in terms of sales volumes, taking into account the business areas’ (BA) growth plans and ambitions for the future.