Inventrak Blog

The ability to respond to customer requirements on a timely basis has always been a fundamental element of the marketing concept. However, nowhere is this pressure more evident than in markets governed by fashion.

Fashion products have the following characteristics:

• Short life cycles: The product is often ephemeral and is likely to be very short and seasonal.
• High volatility: Demand for these products is rarely stable or linear.
• Low predictability: Because of the volatility of demand it is extremely difficult to forecast with any accuracy even total demand during a period, let alone week-by-week or item-by-item demand.

The combined effect of these pressures clearly provides a challenge to fashion inventory management. Traditional ways of responding to customer demand have been forecast-based, with the resultant risk of over-stocked or under-stocked situations.

Quick response strategy takes a different route. Although it may pose manufacturing capacity problems, fashion retailers order as little as possible before the season. From day one, POS data is gathered, analyzed, and then used to understand demand preferences. Reordering decision is then guided by the continuing (daily or weekly) POS data.

This quick response approach can be better appreciated when applied to a particular situation such as global or offshore sourcing. When it comes to a global or offshore sourcing situation, the real cost for fashion retailers is more than so-called low cost of sourcing. Cost due to time to response and time for shipping should also be taken into consideration. Quick response strategy is the key here. It is not only effective for estimating the demand within a short period, but also helps to cut the costs due to time lag.

Let quick response be your fashion store's marketing approach, you will see the difference.