Featuring Craig Barnell (Director of Customer Insights, Inventory Optimizer; COO, Fishers Finery) and Ryan Carbone (Director of Support & Product Implementation, Inventory Optimizer).
Growing an ecommerce catalog is not just about adding more SKUs. It is about forecasting which SKUs to add, when to add them, and how they fit into the broader demand picture. In this episode of “If You Don’t Have It, You Can’t Sell It,” Ryan and Craig walk through Fishers Finery’s journey from launching with just 18 parent products to managing a catalog of more than 3,000 SKUs. As the business grew, clearer forecasting and demand visibility guided how the catalog expanded.
The Challenge
Fishers Finery launched on Amazon in 2013 with a small team, limited tools, and a focused product mix anchored by silk pillowcases. As sales accelerated, reaching $2 million in just one year, the brand faced new forecasting challenges tied to catalog growth, including deciding:
- Which products to add
- Which products to retire
- How to build a complementary catalog without overextending inventory or ad spend
Early decisions were tracked manually in spreadsheets, making it difficult to forecast demand for new SKUs or confidently scale the catalog while maintaining healthy turns and margins.
As the brand expanded into Shopify, forecasting became even more complex. The team now had to plan inventory across collections, channels, and customer journeys while keeping demand aligned across the entire catalog.
“We realized pretty quickly that adding products without understanding customer behavior would lead to noise, not growth.” Craig Barnell
The Strategy
Instead of expanding randomly, Fishers Finery turned to customer data. By analyzing first-purchase behavior, repeat purchase rates, and cross-category engagement, the team identified silk pillowcases as the primary entry point into the brand, representing more than half of first purchases. From there, they built outward with complementary products designed to earn a second and third sale.
Forecasting demand at the entry point allowed the team to plan follow on products with greater confidence.
From there, the catalog expanded intentionally with complementary products designed to earn a second and third sale. The catalog evolved across home goods, bedding, athleisure, and apparel, guided by repeat rate data rather than assumptions. Forecasts were used not only to support new launches, but also to identify when underperforming SKUs should be retired to avoid inventory drag.
Inventory Optimizer supports this strategy by helping brands:
- Forecast demand at the SKU level using real order history
- Model demand for new products using comparable SKU performance
- Plan launches and retirements without disrupting inventory flow
- Create smarter first purchase orders based on forecasted demand, not guesswork
“Catalog growth works when you earn the right to the next sale—and back it up with data.” Craig Barnell
The Results
By aligning catalog expansion with demand forecasting and customer behavior, Fishers Finery achieved:
- Consistent 30–40% repeat customer rates
- Strong cross-category purchasing across bedding, apparel, and accessories
- A scalable catalog that supports gifting, loyalty, and brand stickiness
- Greater confidence in adding (and removing) SKUs without guesswork
Rather than reacting to sales after the fact, the team used forecasts to guide catalog decisions before inventory was committed.
Takeaway
Successful catalog expansion is not about selling more products. It is about forecasting how each product fits into the overall demand strategy.
When forecasting informs SKU launches, retirements, and inventory placement, brands can scale catalogs without losing control of inventory or cash flow. With the right forecasting and inventory tools, teams can plan smarter, adjust faster, and grow with confidence.
Inventory Optimizer helps sellers plan catalog growth the same way Fishers Finery did. Forecast driven, intentional, and backed by real demand.
“As you’re growing your business, as you’re making changes, as you’re deciding to go in different directions, different product lines for launching new products, for retiring older products—we have the ability to copy sales history from existing products, move that sales history to a newly introduced product to help you create that first PO.” Ryan Carbone
Watch the episode or schedule a demo to see how Inventory Optimizer supports smarter SKU growth and long-term inventory strategy.
