Sportscraft has been a cornerstone of Australian fashion retail for over 100 years. Known for its streamlined approach to creating a universally wearable, effortless wardrobe, Sportscraft’s core lines are unmistakable: shirts, chinos, denim fits, and the iconic trench coat. The continued stock and iterations of these repeatedly worn items have ensured ongoing customer satisfaction and loyalty over the years.
For the brand, onboarding Style Arcade was part of APG & Co.’s wider company plan to put product at the heart of its strategy. The intention was to utilize the platform’s product automations and recommendations to identify patterns in best-selling product attributes and buying behaviours, to drive conversions.
To increase sell-through on their most in-demand items across their vast store network, they needed a deep understanding of product performance at the size, category, store, and product-feature level.
Here, we take a deep dive into product performance at the size and store level and analyse how Style Arcade identified opportunities for sales and revenue growth.
The Challenge
Sportscraft uncovered $5.4 million in potential revenue upside from just 63 core products from their womenswear and menswear lines annually.
The issue wasn't that the team wasn't buying enough stock; it was the size-level demand by store that was missing.
From the team’s perspective, the buy looked sufficient across the entire store network, from standalone stores to department store concessions. However, the sales opportunities by size availability across the doors was obscured. Despite delivering the strongest demand, high-performing stores didn't receive enough stock to cover demand, while excess inventory sat in lower-performing locations.
These incorrect allocations created expensive downstream costs: once inventory lands in the wrong stores, retailers are forced to choose between costly store-to-store transfers or markdowns, which quickly erode margin that could otherwise have been preserved.
Findings
Sportscraft retail fashion buy depth over 4 months:
- Despite averaging just 71% size availability, the top-performing products still drove nearly half of total sales
Showing just how concentrated demand is among the strongest performers regardless of stock outs.
- Best-selling products in the top 10 stores had their rate of sale under-pitched by 36%
Meaning inventory planning fell short of actual demand, missing out on potential sales.
- Even though the buy depth was 35% higher than last year there was significant further demand to be captured
This suggests that while the strongest products are receiving greater depth there's still opportunity to better align inventory with store-level demand.
The Solution
For Sportscraft, the opportunity was to correct the size-level ordering to ensure the right stores receive the right amount of stock to sufficiently cover size availability in order to capitalize on these sales.
Accurate and automated product forecasting with Style Arcade’s True Rate of Sale metric was the answer to close the demand and revenue gaps across the men’s and womenswear lines.
The Result
By ordering inventory according to true demand at a store and size level, Sportscraft can reduce stockouts, minimize transfers and capture more full-price sales. For the team across menswear and womenswear business-wide, this amounted to $5.4 million in potential revenue upside across 63 in-demand products.
Style Arcade’s automated forecasting helps close this allocation gap. Using True Rate of Sale based on the Store Size Availability metric allows retailers to understand actual demand, improve allocation decisions and maximize revenue from products.
Key Takeaways
Use the 80/20 rule to protect high demand
Whether it's 20% of products driving 80% of sales, or 20% of stores generating 80% of revenue, prioritize allocating inventory to the highest-performing products and locations.
Regularly review allocations
Always re-think allocations when the stock arrives, not just when the buy is completed. Review allocations consistently, based on category and store performance, or like-products.
Don't always allocate every product to every store
Every store performs differently; blanket allocations and buying sizes by the bell curve across the store network do not reflect the true demand of each store and can lead to excess inventory.
Keep some stock to replenish once you see the reaction
Keep stock aside for stores that have shown high demand in similar products, in order to keep the size availability as high as possible, for as long as possible if the new product is in demand.
