Build vs Buy: How Wegmans Built In-House Forecasting Capabilities With PyMC Labs

About this event

Opening a new supermarket is a multi-million-dollar bet, and a strong forecast for one site can still hurt the portfolio. Wegmans, with 100-plus stores, chose not to buy a black box. They built their own forecasting capability with PyMC Labs. Hear how the two teams co-designed a Bayesian site-selection model that encodes Wegmans' operator expertise, uses real drive-time trade areas, forecasts in-store and e-commerce demand separately, and measures cannibalization across the network. Built on PyMC, it runs on an analyst's laptop and is owned and extended by Wegmans today. What you'll learn • Why Wegmans chose to build forecasting in-house, with a partner, instead of buying • How to judge a new site by its effect on the whole portfolio, not just its own forecast • How operator knowledge, limited data, and real geography fit in one Bayesian model • What it takes to own and extend a model after the partner steps back 📜 Outline of Talk / Agenda: • 5 min: Introduction to PyMC Labs and speakers • 40 min: Panel discussion • 15 min: Q&A \-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\- 💼 About the speakers: Dr. Luca Fiaschi (PyMC Labs Partner, Gen AI Vertical) Luca helps organizations unlock the value of data and AI. With 15+ years of experience, he’s led and scaled teams at Mistplay, HelloFresh, Alibaba, and Stitch Fix, driving breakthroughs in personalization, marketing optimization, and causal modeling. He holds a PhD in Computer Science from Heidelberg University. Connect with Luca👉 LinkedIn (https://www.linkedin.com/in/lfiaschi/)🧩 Github (https://github.com/lfiaschi) Ian Costley (Wegmans, Data Scientist Ian Costley is a data scientist in the Customer Insights group at Wegmans Food Markets, serving as a technical lead on applied modeling work. They collaborate across the organization to provide statistical support for decision-making. His interests include probabilistic modeling, inference at scale, and building bespoke models to uniquely fit business problems. Connect with Ian 👉 LinkedIn (https://www.linkedin.com/in/ian-s-costley/) \-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\-\- 📖 Code of Conduct: Please note that participants are expected to abide by PyMC's Code of Conduct. (https://github.com/pymc-devs/pymc/blob/main/CODE_OF_CONDUCT.md) Connecting with PyMC Labs: 🌐 Website: https://www.pymc-labs.com/ 👥 LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/pymc-labs/ 🐦 Twitter: https://twitter.com/pymc_labs 🎥 YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/PyMCLabs 🤝 Meetup: https://www.meetup.com/pymc-labs-online-meetup/ 🎮 Discord: https://discord.gg/MARSCNemw3