Intensified competition in the ready-to-wear clothing retail sector has increased the variety and seasonal style ranges that stores must stock in order to meet customer demand. Retailer Kiabi now stocks six different collections per year, which requires an increased precision in inventory planning and management, and supply chain oversight.
Kiabi has implemented Infor''s Retail Demand Management tool which optimises supply chain management, such as minimum order size and time to fulfill an order. It does so by predicting sales for each clothing SKU based on historic data and local market data, such as store openings, competition, etc. along with daily warehouse stock levels and store inventory data. It predicts sales trends on a country level by looking at localised market data to aid with financial planning. The envisioned final implementation will be able to predict inventory needs on a store-level.
Historic sales data, daily stock levels and store sales
Product availability has improved from 90% to 97% on permanent collection items, sales forecasts are more reliable and stock shortages less frequent.