Software for collection and product range planning

The entire process of collection development through to sales is extensive and involves many departments. Specialized software solutions can simplify communication and decision-making and significantly shorten the time-to-market. A shorter time-to-market is just one advantage of digital product range planning for companies in the fashion sector. Higher sales, early identification of winners and losers in the portfolio and a reduction in write-downs also lead to competitive advantages.

Special requirements in the fashion industry

The success of a fashion company largely depends on how and whether the brand is received by consumers. This makes it all the more important to know your target group and draw conclusions about potential sales figures. New collection merchandise should sell as quickly and well as possible - without a lot of leftover stock or too little merchandise being available. The next collection is usually already available.

In order to increase market share, sales and profits, fashion companies need to be creative: new and, above all, successful collections need to be developed on a regular basis and trends need to be incorporated. Visualizing product sketches, documenting feedback and adding additional input is difficult to do manually or with Excel spreadsheets these days. Above all, it is no longer up to date and is not conducive to a fast and, above all, successful collection.

Coordinating, evaluating and forecasting the success of a product portfolio is time-consuming and slows down the time to market considerably. Prototypes have to be discussed, order quantities determined and the sales department informed about new products. Particularly in the case of new developments in fashion, the assessment of product success is associated with a high level of communication effort and uncertainty; opportunities and potential are often recognized too late or not at all.

Opportunities of digitalization in the fashion sector

The vast majority of fashion companies still work shirt-sleeved with paper and Excel spreadsheets. Communication is primarily by email. This costs time and money and is also prone to errors and outdated. Thanks to today's digital possibilities, collections can be assessed faster and better. With a software solution for evaluating, discussing and coordinating your product range or collection, you can bring together all the stakeholders in your company and create reliable data that you can use as a basis for your decision-making. You can use this information as a basis for design, purchasing and sales processes. This early collection and assortment planning can strengthen collections, identify gaps, secure margins and price points and always provide the latest collection information in real time. This ultimately influences the time-to-market and helps your company to stay one step ahead of the competition.

Collection evaluation via iPad

Our software is specially designed for the fashion sector. It optimally supports companies in collection and product range planning. As an iPad app, it enables commercial and creative teams to evaluate collections or concepts quickly and easily online. The results are immediately processed into a meaningful standard report that enables management to decide on the number of items to offer to markets, buy samples from vendors or create forecasts or pre-buys for factories.

Our solution ensures fast and interactive communication and enables feedback per item design or concept around the world. Capture data can be uploaded from a standard Excel spreadsheet to a secure cloud environment, eliminating the need for a complex interface with PDM or ERP.

Support for collections and product ranges

Throughout the collection development and sales process, fashion companies evaluate the offering for their markets, customers and stores. The purpose of the assessment is to strengthen the collection, identify gaps and, just as importantly, secure margin and price points. In the case of retailers, store managers or regional retail teams can feed back to stores the latest local requirements to optimize assortments.

Feedback is required at various points during the design and sampling process to ensure that developments are going in the right direction. Our software solution supports this evaluation and internal communication process in a structured and interactive way, enabling commercial and creative teams to quickly and fashionably evaluate collections or concepts, receive instant "strengths and weaknesses" reports and visualization of risks, and optimize your collection at key stages of the design and sampling process.

How does assortment planning software work?

The fashion software can be easily downloaded from the app store and is ready to use immediately. In our solution, you can easily evaluate online. This allows everyone involved to follow and influence the development of the planned products from the outset. Sales, production and sales managers can evaluate the product ranges and share all information with work groups worldwide via a secure cloud solution.

How you benefit from such a software solution

Significantly reduced time-to-market and product development
Worldwide team collaboration thanks to cloud technology
Early recognition of winning and losing products
Simplified communication in the evaluation process with all parties involved
Higher turnover through improved forecasts
Easy acquisition of valuable market knowledge from internal and external sources
Reduction of write-downs, spoilage and excess stock
Centralized documentation of valuations
No investment in hardware or IT resources necessary