Sales forecasting using economic data: tips, tricks, and common pitfalls

Marcos assists clients in the corporate sector at Oxford Economics in gaining key insights from our forecasts and analyses, as well as understanding how to use economic insights to make strategic business decisions.

He is based in our London office. Prior to working in corporate advisory, Marcos was the chief economist and general manager for Oxford Economics in Latin America based in Mexico City, in charge of managing a team of economists producing research and forecasts for over 30 countries as well as leading several consultancy projects with major firms. Before joining Oxford Economics in 2012, Marcos completed his MSc in Economics & Finance at the Barcelona School of Economics and worked at the Brazilian Development Bank in Rio de Janeiro. Marcos is fluent in English, Spanish, and Portuguese.

Alex Mackle is a Corporate Advisory Engagement Lead in the US Macro Consulting team based in New York. Alex focuses on scenarios and stress testing, as well as CECL/IFRS9 scenarios. He also frequently gives training sessions on the Global Economic Model, focusing on scenarios and stress testing capabilities.

Prior to joining the US Macro Consulting team in 2017, Alex worked in the Scenarios team in London, contributing to the Global Scenario Service and various stress testing exercises. He has also worked on several modelling projects, including a macro model for the Central Bank of Oman.

Amit Sharda works as a Lead Economist for the Global Industry Service at Oxford Economics. Currently, he leads our bespoke consultancy work related to sales and market demand forecasting, and he has now headed our global machine tool market analysis for the better part of a decade. He is also in charge of monitoring and forecasting developments in the automotive and aerospace industries.

He first joined as a placement student in 2008 and then returned to Oxford Economics after gaining a first-class degree in Economics of Money, Banking and Finance. During his time at Oxford Economics, he has overseen the quarterly industry forecast update, expressed our house-view on industrial developments in our monthly publications, and forecasted developments in the chemicals and pharmaceuticals industries. Amit has also worked on a wide range of economic reports, including evaluating the drivers of competitiveness in the European chemical industry as well as being heavily involved in the production of our series of well-established Global Construction reports. He has also gained considerable experience using the Global Economic Model too, forecasting macroeconomic developments in Sweden and Norway.