Marine Layer Strengthens Its Demand Planning

Marine Layer Makes Demand Planning a Company-wide Strength With NetSuite Planning and Budgeting

Marine Layer was born when founder and CEO Michael Natenshon's girlfriend threw away his favorite T-shirt. The plan was simple: Create a shirt so wonderful that he’d never want to take it off. In just over a decade, that mission has built a retail phenomenon with passionate customers, an expanding national chain of stores and an appetite for growth.

Company

Marine Layer

Location

San Francisco, Calif.

Industry

Apparel, Footwear & Accessories

EMPLOYEES

25-100

REVENUE

$20-30M

SYSTEMS REPLACED

Excel, QuickBooks

NETSUITE PRODUCTS IMPLEMENTED

ERP
NetSuite Planning and Budgeting

IMPLEMENTATION PARTNER

Promethean Analytics

Location

Rocklin, Calif.

“We're always looking for opportunities to open more stores, and it's important that we have something that's able to scale.” Keri Garrison, Director of Planning and Operations, Marine Layer

Outfitted for Growth

Unbridled expansion: Marine Layer hit its stride in recent years after deploying NetSuite ERP, quickly expanding to its current total of 46 stores despite a continued reliance on manual inventory-related processes. In addition to super-soft T-shirts, the brand sells other casual apparel, from kids’ sweatshirts to adult swimsuits.

Forecasting troubles: Prior to NetSuite, Marine Layer’s planning team spent inordinate time manually building reports on inventory and actual sales from a 10-tab spreadsheet. The company struggled with inventory replenishment during seasonal transitions and the accompanying shifts in demand.

Replenishment as a strength: Marine Layer implemented NetSuite Planning and Budgeting for its unique needs as an apparel company, which will entail using the tool for demand planning. Now, the team has less manual work and can make smarter replenishment decisions around weeks of supply (WOS) targets. Data on sales trends has made inventory replenishment a strength vs. a guessing game.

Boosting data flow: Going forward, Garrison expects even more dramatic improvements when Marine Layer implements demand and supply planning for all SKUs—and by sales channel—within NetSuite Planning and Budgeting. She also aims to have NetSuite Planning and Budgeting provide a foundation for more accurate forecasting on a store-by-store basis. The team also plans to expand its use of NetSuite Planning and Budgeting’s Smart View reporting add-on and incorporate more details into NetSuite reports.

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