Online Toy Store Plays to Win After Automating Forecasting With Inventory Planner by Sage

“We had a number of demos of different solutions but it was clear that Inventory Planner was the best solution to help us sort out our inventory” – Annette Batchelor, Operations Manager, Oskar’s Wooden Ark

Selling traditional products in an online environment isn’t always easy – but Oskar’s Wooden Ark makes it look like child’s play.

For a number of years, the Australian toy retailer has been capturing the hearts of children and grown-ups alike with its carefully curated selection of hand-crafted wooden games, nostalgia-inspired toys, art and craft supplies and kid-friendly building tools.

But while business has been booming, the company has also faced a major challenge.

After merging its online retail operation with its wholesale arm and a long-standing school supplies business, Oskar’s Wooden Ark was grappling with inventory chaos.

Relying solely on spreadsheets and manual predictions for forecasting, the business had zero visibility across its operations. Warehouse transfers were a logistical nightmare and overselling was a growing concern.

To turn things around, the Shopify-powered business opted for a winning combination of solutions from the Sage Retail family – Brightpearl by Sage as its operating system and Inventory Planner by Sage to optimize its inventory.

Building blocks of success

Annette Batchelor, Operations Manager, says: “We were relying on disparate IT systems and manual spreadsheets to manage our inventory across three different businesses run from a single warehouse.

“We were constantly having to manually move stock around and update different spreadsheets – but inevitably there were errors and inaccuracies.

“Sometimes we had more stock than we thought we did so we were underselling. Other times we had the opposite problem – our calculations showed we had stock, but we actually didn’t so we’d oversell and then have to disappoint customers.

“We completely lacked the visibility we needed.

“We had a number of demos of different solutions but it was clear that Inventory Planner was the best solution to help us sort out our inventory across the whole business.”

As a top-rated inventory planning app, Inventory Planner by Sage is packed with features and functionality that help fast-growing merchants like Oskar’s Wooden Ark save time, boost revenue and adapt to market changes.

It offers reliable, always-up-to-date demand forecasting which factors in supplier timescales, seasonality and promotions alongside historical sales data. It then translates these forecasts into simple, easy-to-understand buying reports which show merchants exactly what to order and when.

Even the creation of time-consuming POs can be automated and the app can be integrated seamlessly with e-commerce platforms, including Shopify, ShipStation and Brightpearl – which sit at the heart of the tech stack at Oskar’s Wooden Ark.

Playbook for easy purchasing

Annette says: “Automated forecasting has been a major game-changer. We can now accurately forecast the stock we need for each part of the business six months in advance.

“It’s easy to tailor the forecasts depending on the time of the year and which business we are ordering for – school supply sales peak in the first quarter but toy sales peak around Christmas. Inventory Planner combines our historical sales with other factors – like promotions and recent trends – to constantly update forecasts so we always have accurate numbers on hand.

“And thanks to the dashboard, which we find very easy to use, we have complete visibility and control across sales history, current stock levels, and pending orders. We’ve been able to put a stop to over and underselling.”

Oskar’s Wooden Ark, which sources its range from classic toy brands including Maileg, Stockmar and Grimm’s, has totted up a long list of wins since joining Inventory Planner, but the biggest impact of all has been the time saved on purchasing.

Based on its accurate forecasts, the software provides reliable buying recommendations – showing Annette and her team exactly which variants to order and when.

Even better, because Inventory Planner integrates seamlessly with Brightpearl, the team is able to create orders directly within the platform, sending them direct to suppliers in a matter of clicks.

The powerful reports have also transformed the time spent on warehouse transfers, offering intelligent recommendations on when and where to transfer items to avoid buying unnecessary stock.

Annette says: “Processing orders used to take us four days every few weeks – now it’s done in a couple of hours.

“It’s a massive saving.”

Smooth sailing

“Processing orders used to take us four days every few weeks – now it’s done in a couple of hours” – Annette Batchelor, Operations Manager, Oskar’s Wooden Ark

 As Oskar’s Wooden Ark continues to thrive, the team is exploring more of Inventory Planner’s extensive functionality, which includes Open to Buy planning and reports with more than 200 customizable metrics.

“Now we’ve sorted out our forecasting and our ordering, we have the headspace to utilize the rest of Inventory Planner’s tools,” says Annette.

“We’re starting to use the Overstock Report a lot more now and the ABC Report is next on the list.

“It’s great to know there’s even more value we can get from it.”

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