Inventory Planning For Kidswear Brands In UK & USA | Manufacturer Tips

Inventory Planning For Kidswear Brands In UK & USA | Manufacturer Tips

Inventory planning and management are crucial for the success of kidswear brands. Manufacturers work tirelessly to manage their inventories and plan ahead to not overload their warehouses. A constant flow of garments both in and out of warehouses ensures production can be kept running, and you’re able to meet market demand in due time. These practices are especially crucial for kidswear brands in the UK and the US because garment demand is often high and consistent in these markets. So, here are some of the best inventory management tips from top garment manufacturing companies in India.

Inventory Management Tips from Apparel Manufacturers in India

1. Create Your Size Mix in Reference To The Market

Kidswear is one of the garment segments that has the most sizing diversification. To ensure your inventory is realistic and actually suitable to meet market demand, here is a basic formula that you can consider as a starting point. 

Baby and Toddler garments (0 to 24 months old) should make up 35% of your inventory.

Small kids (2 to 5 years old) should make up 35% of your inventory.

Older kids (8 to 12 years old) should make up 30% of your inventory.

This is a basic and good starting point to ensure you’re prepared to meet the market demand in every season. Do note that the inventory makeup is for SKU-based inventories. Based on your sales patterns or market understanding, you should adjust the ratio between these three categories.

2. Localize Sizing & Labels

Localizing sizing helps you ensure return figures do not cross the standard threshold. In fact, not following these guidelines can almost cause your entire stock to be rejected by buyers. If you’re selling to the US and the UK, your manufacturing can’t cut both garments from the same cloth, figuratively. Both countries have different sizing guides and packaging requirements. You must provide unit conversions and print regional size charts to ensure compliance with both parties.

3. Consider Lead Times & MOQs in Your Planning

When you’re managing your inventory, you must accommodate factors like lead times. The key here is to understand that your inventory is only as good as your production partner’s delivery capabilities. So, the key is to order basics in large quantities in due time to ensure you always have something ready to meet market demand. Also, try ordering niche trend pieces in smaller amounts and work with different manufacturers for them that allow smaller MOQ orders.

4. Use Logic-based Reordering

A little mathematics takes you a long way. So, here are some easy logic-based reordering formulas that can help you plan your inventory as a garment exporter.

• Lead Time Demand (LTD): Multiply your average daily sales by your lead time. This will help you get the amount of stock you need to ensure you’re not falling short on your inventory before the next set comes in.

• Reorder Point: Adding to your LTD calculation, the reorder point is calculated by adding your safety stock to the LTD. This ensures your warehouses are never empty or overstocked.

Safety Stock: To calculate your safety stock, a rule of thumb is to go for 10 to 30% of average monthly sales for stable evergreen (basic) SKUs. Trendy pieces require higher calculations based on market forecasts.

These calculations can help you maintain safe inventory stocks at all times.

1. Plan For Returns or Overstock

This is specifically required for kidswear as it is more prone to returns compared to any other garment category. The primary problem may be sizing and market fit. So, you must account for at least 20% of your stock that can face returns. This should be maintained in your inventory management. To manage this, discuss staggered initial new SKU runs with a rapid follow-up possibility based on sales figures.

2. Use SKU Analytics To Keep Working

Analytics can help you protect your inventory and ensure you’re actually only holding on to SKUs that are benefiting you. The key here is to follow a strategy of holding on more to SKUs that have a high sell-through and low carrying cost. This will help you keep your gross profit margins in the green always.

Conclusion

The strategies described above are followed by private label manufacturers, clothing, and also mass manufacturers and brands. This helps maintain a stable inventory that’s ready to meet market demands without stopping your production. For more information about inventory planning, be sure to check out Cheer Sagar. Cheer Sagar is among the top apparel manufacturers in India with over 30 years of experience in both manufacturing and exporting garments.