In retail, size matters in an extra-large way. If you’re a small apparel business, playing a guessing game when it comes to sized merchandise can be very dangerous to your inventory eco-system.
It’s important to look at the current and historical insights to determine your best-selling sizes, sales trends and seasonal patterns that will help you order your the right clothing sizes in a balanced, efficient way, and this great infographic illustrates some best practices on that front.
–XS sizes return almost double the revenue in comparison to XL and XXL. Unfortunately, I think we just found a clue as to why plus size women have such a hard time finding cute clothes.
-This one’s not a surprise, but we can’t stress enough that up to 90% of expenses for small businesses are inventory-related costs. That means it’s all the more important to manage your inventory in the best way you can, or 90% of your business might fail.
–Forget the traditional 1-2-2-1 ordering ratio (one small, two mediums, two larges, one extra-large). Their research uncovered a more successful ratio that could mean less unsold merchandise and maximized revenue. The original ratio never gave insight to XS and XXL sizes either, so theirs gives a complete picture. Check out the distribution below—it’s quite helpful!
–Spelling out your sizes on price tags and labels? Stop that noise right now. Research shows that customers overwhelmingly prefer abbreviated letters (S, M, L) versus words. Letters-only tags generate 38% more sales. That’s a small change that can make an extra-large difference.
Final-Size-ONLINE-StitchLabs1
What are your biggest challenges when it comes to sized apparel? Let us know in the comments!
