Warehouse Stock Parameter Setting

This one is for the statistically inclined..All the normal literature provides a formula for safety stock that is based on a normal distribution .. which might not be the case always.. I have three questions on the same:

1) Can somebody tell me what are the other probability distributions that are commonly witnessed across industries for demand at warehouses.

2) What will be the safety stock formula in case of these different distributions as many of these distribution are measured by parameters other than central tendency or variance.

3) In case I have a data set of demand points at a warehouse, what techniques can I develop to identify the statistical distribution of the data set.