New research by Impact Analytics on weight loss drugs, points to a disruption of conventional norms for the fashion industry, and why retailers need to take immediate note of this paradigm shift.
The significance of size curves for brands and retailers, as well as their critical role in inventory management, are noted in the white paper, which also provides context for the research. It states that retailers often make purchase decisions for forthcoming seasons six to nine months in advance. Size curves are specific to every kind of product and distribution point; they “influence which sizes should be part of the assortment” and determine the order amount for each size.
Nevertheless, Impact Analytics said that there are chances to control size curves and boost precision. When the size match percentage was examined more closely, the company’s experts discovered that match rates for important categories ranged from 20 to 51 per cent, which is significantly lower than the best-in-class performance rate of 70 per cent.
“A fundamental shift towards historically informed, but forward forecast… data-driven decision-making to optimise match rates and deliver improved sales and margin on the entire inventory investments” is what the research said was needed to overcome these problems.
The authors of the report warned that there could be “dreadful consequences” if brands and retailers don’t maximise match rates. According to analysis, if size curves don’t adjust in a way that makes sense, retailers run the risk of losing all of their profit margin and having more than 10 per cent of their clothing inventory unsold at the end of the year.
