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 utilise 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 was losing an estimated $5.4 million in potential revenue due to stockouts across 63 core products from their womenswear and menswear lines, an average of $86,000 per product.
The issue wasn't that the team wasn't buying enough stock; it was where the stock was being allocated.
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 were being overlooked; 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:
- Top 20% of products contributed to nearly half of total sales
This highlights the significant concentration of demand among the strongest-performing products.
- Top 20% of products contributed to the highest sales across the top 10 stores
This reinforces how heavily sales are concentrated among the strongest-performing products and strongest-performing stores.
- In the top 10 stores, 20% of products were selling out, with double the sell-through rate compared to total retail
This further highlights the opportunity to better align inventory with store-level demand.
The Solution
For Sportscraft, the opportunity was to correct the allocations to ensure the right stores receive the right amount of stock to sufficiently cover size availability in order to capitalise on 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.
Learnings
Protect the 80/20 rule
Whether it's 20% of products driving 80% of sales, or 20% of stores generating 80% of revenue, inventory should be prioritised to the highest-performing products and locations.
Forecast demand by Store Size Availability
While Sportscraft’s buy appeared to be sufficient, the team had been overlooking size availability at the store level, where availability should remain as close to 100% for as long as possible before a size breaks in the size curve.
The Result
By allocating inventory according to true demand at a store and size level, Sportscraft can reduce stockouts, minimise 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 maximise 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, prioritise 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.
