MERCHANDISING AND SALES
How to Choose Sizes and Styles for Your Target Customers
Stocking the wrong sizes is one of the quietest ways to lose sales: the item is right, but nobody who wants it can wear it.
Base size and style decisions on your own customers.
GATHER EVIDENCE
Three sources.
Requests
Note every size and style customers ask for that you do not have.
Sales records
Record size and style with every sale.
Small tests
Try a small batch of a new style before committing.
BUILD A SIZE PLAN
Turn evidence into a mix.
Use your records to set a target size mix per category.
- Stock more of the sizes that sell fastest.
- Keep a smaller range of less common sizes, which can be a niche of their own.
- Revisit the mix when you plan repeat orders.
STYLES
Read your customers, not just trends.
Trends help, but your customers decide.
- Use styling directions as ideas to test, not certainties.
- Watch what regulars choose.
- Match styles to your niche.
SIZING HONESTLY
Help buyers choose.
- Measure items; labels vary between brands and eras.
- Include measurements in listings.
NEXT STEP
Know the sizes you need?
Share your target categories with your enquiry; actual size mix varies, so we discuss what is currently available.
General guidance for planning purposes. Examples are illustrative; outcomes depend on your own market, stock, prices and costs.