Inventory challenges continue to plague the fashion industry, as highlighted by Business of Fashion (BOF) and McKinsey's The State of Fashion 2025 report. The root causes—fragmented planning processes, unpredictable demand cycles, and outdated workflows—have driven brands toward tech-enabled solutions. Toolio stands out as an end-to-end planning platform that directly addresses these issues, aligning seamlessly with BOF and McKinsey's recommendations for proactive inventory management and cross-functional collaboration.
1. A Unified Platform for End-to-End Planning
BOF emphasizes breaking down silos across the value chain and leveraging integrated systems. Toolio's platform approach consolidates Merchandise Financial Planning (MFP), Assortment Planning (AP), and Allocations (AL) into a single source of truth. This structure enables teams to collaborate seamlessly, ensuring that insights from merchandise planning flow directly into assortment strategies and allocation decisions.
Example: Toolio's modular setup allows planners to define category plans, store plans, and financial goals in one place. These insights automatically feed into assortment strategies, ensuring product assortments align with sales goals and inventory availability. Finally, allocation strategies refine what, where, when, and how inventory gets distributed down to the SKU and store level, eliminating data silos.
2. Accurate Demand Forecasting with Machine Learning
BOF and McKinsey highlight the need for predictive analytics to optimize inventory levels and reduce out-of-stocks. Toolio employs a tournament forecasting methodology that pits multiple forecasting techniques—statistical regression models, machine learning algorithms, and specialized curve-fitting approaches—against each other to determine the best-performing model for each product. This process ensures forecasts adapt to diverse product needs, improving accuracy and performance.
Impact: Toolio's demand forecasting combines statistical regression models, machine learning algorithms, and specialized curve-fitting techniques to deliver highly accurate predictions. It dynamically analyzes trends, seasonality, and category-level patterns, identifying signals that traditional methods might miss. By leveraging large datasets, Toolio optimizes forecasts for SKU-level accuracy and improves long-term planning to reduce stock-outs and excess inventory. This approach enhances supply chain efficiency, enabling proactive inventory management and minimizing disruptions. With granular sales and size curves, Toolio aligns inventory distribution with demand, addressing issues like size-level mismatches and ensuring products are available where and when needed.
3. Generative AI for Accessibility and Decision-Making
In line with McKinsey's call for leveraging generative AI to improve decision-making, Toolio will soon introduce AI-powered chatbots for quick data access and scenario planning. Planners can query sales performance, identify outliers, and simulate markdown strategies—all through a user-friendly interface.
Example: Need to assess markdown timing? Toolio's AI chatbot can instantly analyze sales velocity and margins, providing data-backed markdown recommendations to optimize profitability without manual calculations.
4. Dynamic Open-to-Buy and Test-and-React Capabilities
As noted by BOF, dynamic open-to-buy adjustments and test-and-react strategies are critical for agility. Toolio automates receipt recommendations to create seamless chase opportunities, enabling brands to quickly replenish winning products and test new styles.
Example: If a seasonal product outperforms expectations, Toolio automatically updates replenishment needs, allowing planners to chase inventory and capitalize on trends without overcommitting upfront.
5. KPI Tracking and Data Aggregation for Transparency
McKinsey emphasizes the need for aligned KPIs and transparent reporting to incentivize inventory excellence. Toolio aggregates data across modules, providing visibility into sales performance, inventory turnover, and markdown effectiveness through customizable dashboards.
Impact: Planners can track performance against goals in real-time, enabling faster reactions to sales trends and inventory disruptions. Exception reporting flags underperformance, while predictive analytics guide proactive adjustments to avoid markdowns and maintain margins.
6. Margin Optimization Through Smart Markdown Strategies
With markdowns affecting up to 44% of assortments (as cited in the BOF article), profitability hinges on smarter markdown decisions. Toolio's markdown optimization tools can assess margin impact, timing, and discount depth based on historical performance and forecasted demand.
Example: A summer line that underperforms due to unexpected weather shifts can be evaluated in Toolio, identifying optimal markdown windows to clear inventory while preserving profit margins.
7. Supply Chain Optimization Through Long-Term Planning
Toolio enables brands to plan across a three-year horizon, optimizing supply chains to reduce lead times and improve vendor collaboration. This supports McKinsey's recommendation to engage suppliers early and incorporate external data for better forecasting.
Toolio: Enabling the Future of Inventory Excellence
BOF and McKinsey's recommendations highlight the need for tech-enabled, integrated platforms to address inventory challenges. Toolio provides:
- End-to-End Planning Tools: Unifying MFP, AP, and AL to streamline workflows while fostering collaboration across teams. Toolio eliminates silos by enabling seamless data flow and decision-making between merchandise planning, assortment planning, and allocations, ensuring cross-functional teams work from the same data set and insights.
- AI and ML Capabilities: Leveraging data science for accurate forecasting and smarter decision-making.
- Dynamic Planning Features: Enabling test-and-react agility and automated replenishment.
- Real-Time Reporting and KPIs: Offering transparency and actionable insights.
With Toolio, brands can move beyond fragmented processes and static planning models. Instead, they can embrace a dynamic, data-driven approach that minimizes markdowns, reduces stock-outs, and optimizes inventory performance—delivering on the vision outlined by BOF and McKinsey.
For fashion brands seeking to future-proof their inventory strategies, Toolio is not just a tool—it’s the foundation for a smarter, more resilient supply chain.
Interested in Learning More?
We're hosting a live webinar Wednesday, February 12th at 1PM Eastern to showcase how Toolio can help your brand achieve inventory excellence.
You can register here, and if you can't make it to the live broadcast, register anyway, we'll send you the recording after.
