Dakine Unlocks On-Demand Sell-Through Data with SPS Decision Intelligence

The Challenge

Ty Logan is Dakine’s Strategic Accounts Director. His job is to work with various retail buyers and make the case for next season’s product line. Dakine sells snow, bike, surf, travel, and lifestyle products, each split into categories, styles, and regions.

Buyers expect numbers. When they ask how helmet styles are selling, they want an answer, not a guess. That made Ty’s job harder, because Dakine has more SKUs and categories than any other brand he has worked with. A retailer’s single total-sales figure didn’t show which styles were moving, and getting the detail behind it took real effort.

Before SPS Decision Intelligence, Ty had to make a request and wait about a week for the data. When it arrived, it lived across multiple systems, and each retailer decided how much to share and in what form. Ty would have to make sense of the data himself, and oftentimes, it couldn’t be drilled into the level of detail Ty needed. Buyers and planners have little time to run reports for suppliers. Timing made it harder. Dakine shows next year’s line to buyers just as this year’s product reaches stores, so there are no sales results yet to point to.

Ty needed to see how each product was selling, quickly and on his own, so he could recommend which products and styles a retailer should carry.

The Solution

Ty brought SPS Decision Intelligence to Dakine for two of its largest retail accounts. He is now able to see sell-through percentages by week, month, and year, as well as which products are on hand and the gross margin for each. What used to take a week to arrive is now available to Ty and his extended team on demand.

“Decision Intelligence puts real-time point-of-sale and sell-through data for major retailers at my fingertips.”
— Ty Logan, Strategic Accounts Director, Dakine

Now, last year’s sell-through is already known. Ty can use that history to gauge how the line in stores is likely to perform and plan the line that ships a year later. Since retailers book far ahead, prior-year results close the gap when a buyer sees next year’s assortment before the current one has sold through.

The Results

Product-level data does more than confirm what’s selling. It shows Ty the evidence to decide what to do next. Dakine placed two surf bags and two totes in a small set of REI stores, and Decision Intelligence showed one product in each pair outsold the other. The mesh tote, which lets sand and water pass through, beat the closed tote, which suggested to Ty that functionality was resonating with REI shoppers. That gave him a clear case to bring the buyer: expand the mesh tote, rework or drop the closed one, and test the surf bags in a wider mix of stores before committing more inventory.

“Decision Intelligence gives me the confidence to tell my leaders exactly which products are winning and which aren’t.”
— Ty Logan, Strategic Accounts Director, Dakine

Category-level data does more than show how a retailer is doing overall. Decision Intelligence shows Ty goggles and helmets inside REI’s protection category, and SPS built the reports that line the categories up the way he needs them. Tracking helmets as their own line matters, because a good year for protection overall can hide a weak helmet. That gave him a clear case to bring the buyer: keep the styles that sell, cut the ones that don’t, match depth to demand, and plan next year’s assortment around what’s already moving.

Retailers feel the difference, too. Buyers and planners do not want to spend time building reports. Instead, Ty brings the analysis to them.

“Decision Intelligence does the heavy lifting, so I can bring retailers the analysis and strategic recommendations they need.”
— Ty Logan, Strategic Accounts Director, Dakine

Lessons Learned

Ty’s experience using SPS in a previous role extends beyond his experience at Dakine. He offers two valuable lessons to other strategic account leaders.

1. Stay close and invest in your data. If you want to grow your business profitably, you need to put the data to use and work strategically with your retailers. Retailers are stretched thin and rarely have time to run reports for suppliers, so don’t count on them to send you the data.
2. Bring a recommendation, not a catalog. Buyers are short on time, so arrive with the analysis done. Know how last year’s line sold, what is in stores, and which styles you suggest keeping.

To learn more about SPS Decision Intelligence, request a demo today.