Bear & Moo Saves 80% Time and Cuts $120K in Stock After Turning Inventory Planning into Child’s Play

“We can now do all our orders for a whole month in three hours, whereas before it would have taken at least two full days – it’s amazing to have that time back.” – Hannah Porter, Founder and Director, Bear & Moo

Rapid growth is a top goal for every start-up – but it’s a double edged sword, often bringing major operational challenges alongside overnight success. 

For Bear & Moo, a babywear brand based in New Zealand that specializes in eco-friendly items including cloth nappies, the price of rapid scaling was a major issue with overstock. 

The business, which sells DTC via a Shopify webstore to customers across the world, expected the dramatic upwards trajectory it experienced during the pandemic to continue, and when it didn’t they ended up severely overstocked and overstaffed. 

 It meant that despite turning over more than $3M, the business stopped turning a profit and had to resort to frequent crash sales to clear stock and bring in cash flow.  

 Director and Founder Hannah Porter realized that Bear & Moo, which she founded to fill a gap in the market for reusable nappies after having her own children, needed to overhaul its approach to inventory – including investing in more profitable products and dramatically reducing overstock.  

 She says: “We were using Tetra – a super basic Shopify app for planning inventory – but syncing our data with CIN7 was a nightmare and using the app was very manual so it ended up being a waste of time.   

“An IT company we were working with recommended Inventory Planner and I knew instantly it was the right fit.   

“It very quickly became a tool we use all the time. It’s fantastic.” 

 Putting stock issues to bed 

As a market-leading demand forecasting and replenishment tool, Inventory Planner reveals which inventory to order, how much to order, and the perfect moment to order it, based on accurate forecasting that factors in supplier timescales, seasonality and promotions alongside historical sales data.  

 POs can be automatically created directly from the software’s reliable buying recommendations, saving merchants hours every week.  

 With Inventory Planner at the heart of its tech stack, Bear & Moo has been able to transform the way inventory is ordered, achieving an 80% time saving.  

 Hannah says: “We can now do all our orders for a whole month in three hours, whereas before it would have taken at least two full days – it’s amazing to have that time back, especially as we have such a small team. 

 “We use suppliers in China with a lead time of six months so it’s great to be able to know how much of each item we need to last any particular period of time.  

 “It’s easy to adjust the lead time and how many days of stock cover we want and the results are always accurate and reliable.  

 “I love that we can look at our replenishment reports and quickly work out exactly which products – right down to which size or color – we need to order.  

 “We’ve been able to save money by strategically placing orders when our suppliers have discounts on – without worrying that we’re ordering too much of the wrong stuff.” 

 Baby steps to big savings 

As a cutting-edge inventory planning app, Inventory Planner integrates seamlessly with all leading e-commerce platforms and ERPs – including to Shopify and CIN7, as well as other key ecommerce tools, like Yotpo and Klaviyo, which Bear & Moo rely on to run their e-commerce operation.  

 Inventory Planner’s range of easy-to-understand inventory reports includes a powerful overstock report which highlights overstocked items and the associated cost, so retailers can quickly see which items to liquidate first to protect cash flow.  

It even flags up both slow-moving and hot-selling items – making it easy for Bear & Moo to avoid cash flow killers like overstock and stockouts. 

 Since implementing Inventory Planner, Bear & Moo have been able to eliminate overstock and optimize their stock mix, focussing on products which return the biggest profit.  

“Having the right tools in place makes such a huge difference… Sometimes you’ve got to spend money to save money.” – Hannah Porter, Founder and Director, Bear & Moo 

 Hannah says: “As a result of using Inventory Planner, we’re on track to turn a profit this year – which feels amazing after a tricky couple of years.  

“We’ve cut around 30% – or $120K – of our holding stock which has made a massive difference to our cash flow.  

“Our stock turnover is so much healthier. We’ve got a warehouse packed with stock now – but it’s all the right stuff that we sell quickly and for a good return.  

“When you run a small business, investing in software can feel prohibitive but having the right tools in place makes such a huge difference.  

“It’s important to remember that your time has value as well and sometimes you’ve got to spend money to save money. 

“I’m so glad we discovered Inventory Planner when we did – now we can look to the future with confidence.” 

Want to see how Inventory Planner can boost your business? Book a demo now.