Suta is a leading D2C brand in the apparel and lifestyle category. The brand is well-known for its vast portfolio of woven sarees and blouses that seamlessly blend contemporary bling with traditional charm. Started as a Facebook page in 2016 by two sisters, Sujata and Taniya Biswas, and is now a 50 crore business. Suta now showcases a full-fledged website and offline stores across key cities like Mumbai, Delhi, Bangalore, Hyderabad, Kolkata, Chennai, Pune, Thane, and Bhubaneswar with more in the pipeline.
The brand currently operates predominantly from its website and stores, and also through marketplaces like Myntra, Ajjio, Nykaa Fashion, Tata CliQ, Amazon, and Flipkart to name a few. With a 200% year-on-year growth, Suta sees 75-80% of its revenue from its online channels while looking at a 20-25% contribution from its offline stores.
Problem Statements and Business Risks
When it comes to lifestyle and apparel brands that have an omnichannel presence, it becomes imperative to have a data-backed inventory management system in place. Suta came to Tenovia with the challenges they were facing with:
- Inventory management and stock abundance: Products that were non-moving due to visibility were stocked up in the warehouse, posing a high risk to the business. This invisible excess of inventory was holding hostage the cash that could be used for other operational needs such as marketing or expanding the business. Excess inventory requires additional warehouse storage facilities leading to inefficiencies in storage management. Additionally, the brand will have to resort to discounts or promotions to clear out these inventories, which can erode profit margins.
- WMS and marketplace listing mismatch: There was a mismatch between the listings in the warehouse and the marketplaces. These products and SKUs that were listed were receiving very low visibility, which affected sales due to delays in delivery or product errors. There was also a mismatch between the products listed across marketplaces, creating inconsistency in the product portfolio.
- Inventory syncing issues: The mismatch of inventory for SKUs between marketplaces and WMS created challenges in inventory management. It resulted in broken or partial listings, creating inconsistent product listings across different marketplaces. Additionally, technical syncing errors can list products as available on a marketplace but need more stock in the warehouse, leading to overselling and fulfillment issues.
Gaps identified by Tensight.ai
- Catalog consistency across different marketplaces
- Unexposed listing stock and incorrect SKUs
- Inventory listing and management
- Syncing errors in the WMS
Tensight.ai powered Solutions for Suta Live Listing Module Integration: Collaborating with Tensight, Suta integrated a live listing module to monitor product listings in real time. This module enabled Suta to identify gaps in their listings and inventory synchronization issues for specific SKUs. By leveraging this technology, Suta could ensure they have exposed all the assortment in all the MP’s, thereby minimizing visibility issues and maximizing their online presence and sales across channels.
Identification of Incorrect SKUs: Tensight was able to identify the SKUs that were listed incorrectly on channels like Myntra, Amazon, and other platforms. This helped Suta identify products that were present on the marketplace as a different SKU but were shown as out of stock due to listing mismatches.
Tracing WMS Syncing: Tensight helped Suta identify the SKUs where WMS syncing errors occurred. Tensight was able to identify products that were partially listed, or not listed on the marketplace, helping in the identification of products that need to be listed on different marketplaces.
Brand Inventory Consistency: Tensight provides a listing percentage (%) view which helps in the identification of the number of products that are listed in a particular marketplace but are not present in another marketplace ensuring all the assortment is present on all marketplaces.
By integrating Tensight’s live listing module, Suta can monitor product listings in real-time, ensuring maximum exposure to its diverse assortment across multiple platforms.
Tensight was able to identify:
- 24 incorrectly listed SKUs from the SKUs listed in the master
- Inventory sync issues for 250 styles on Ajio and 18 styles on Nykaa
- 800+ missing styles across Suta’s online channels
Through the identification and rectification of incorrect SKUs and WMS syncing errors, Suta has streamlined inventory management processes and optimized product visibility across marketplaces.
With Tensight.ai’s data-driven insights focused on brand inventory consistency, Suta can now navigate the competitive landscape of the apparel and lifestyle industry to maximize profits and optimize operations.
No comment yet, add your voice below!