Crocs Uses Data to Help With Assortment Planning

A Growing Company in Both Sales and Assortment Planning

Known for its fun, durable clog-style shoes, Crocs, Inc. is a world leader in innovative, casual footwear for men, women and children. Founded in 2002, the company has grown rapidly — reaching the $1 billion milestone in annual sales in 2011 — and its shoes are sold in more than 90 countries. Crocs shoes are available in more than 300 styles, which include boots, flats, wedges and sandals.

Crocs are sold at various retailers through its wholesale partners, Crocs.com and through more than 500 branded retail locations worldwide, including stores in Asia, Africa, Europe, North America and South America. Casey Daker, director of wholesale strategic planning at Crocs, told SPS Commerce that keeping pace with growth and the omnichannel consumer has been challenging for the company. These challenges include staying agile, given longer lead times across many product lines to take advantage of sales trends on an in-season basis.

Single Solution for Multiple Purposes

In January 2015, Crocs transitioned from a legacy solution to SPS Commerce’s cloud-based SPS Performance Analytics solution. “With SPS Performance Analytics, we’re really just scratching the surface,” Daker said. “We’re starting to build the KPIs and the dashboards that are critical to our business and, more importantly, beginning to understand the drivers behind our sales so that we can actually take action.”

For example, Crocs uses the analytics solution to gauge successful products and those that aren’t moving as quickly. Using data is extremely useful when assortment planning. “The earlier we can use SPS analytics to identify a trend, the sooner we can maximize that peak season for our retailers and mitigate some unproductive supply with our solution,” Daker said.

Crocs anticipates leveraging the SPS Performance Analytics solution for a number of core operational and marketing activities. Short-term uses for the solution, up to six months out, include inventory management, customer management and as a profitability tool.

Crocs Analytics Program Increases Flexibility Around Trends and Seasonality

Mid-range, assortment planning, supply chain planning and forecasting are key activities. “Over six to 18-month windows, the Crocs merchandising team uses the solution to influence future lines for assortment planning and forecasting, whether it’s the customer channel or our overall brand,” Daker said, adding, “Performance Analytics allows our supply chain to tee up products and make changes to the forecast as things happen, so that we can have the capacity and supply that we need in the future.”

“The key thing with having access to analytics—quick and nimble—is that we can quickly identify trends, move inventory with it and drive activity around it,” Daker concluded.