According to a recent WSJ article, retailers just want the right amount of stuff this Christmas.
They might want a gift receipt.
“After a holiday of too much inventory and unflattering margins, retailers are trying to avoid the same mistake.”
Are they though?
Shipping delays, supply chain bottlenecks, and exorbitant ocean container shipping rates… are all a thing of the past and are back to prepandemic levels.
Which is fine.
Now retailers can go back to planning inventory the same way, using the same linear go-to-market calendar, rushing teams, pushing deadlines, overdeveloping, overassorting, and so on.
To avoid the same mistakes, retailers need to plan inventory differently.
A better gift would be innovating process to prevent the accumulation of excess inventory to begin with.
So, we offer these gifts of insight:
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Plan assortments closer to market and remove unnecessary padding from the process steps.
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Work within a multi-track calendar based on product complexity.
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Stop reinventing the wheel on carryover styles; make that part of seasonless products. This way, more time can be spent on fashion.
