Fashion · CFO

Ward for Fashion Finance leaders

A fashion CFO owns sell-through rate, markdown %, return rate. Ward scans continuously all of them and surfaces the ones that moved.

The finance read on a fashion footprint

Your P&L surprises are born on the store floor. Ward writes the finding at the altitude a CFO works at.

A Fashion & Apparel operator is tracking 15,000+ SKUs across locations. Seasonal sell-through, size curve optimization, and markdown timing. Ward monitors style velocity and flags slow movers before the window closes.

app.getward.ai Live demo
Acme Apparel @Merchandising: Planning Analyst claude-sonnet default
A

Chat

Ask anything. Ward routes to the right agent and returns cited answers.

Why is fall denim sell-through behind plan?
You · 9:42 AM
Schema Scout · routed to Merchandising Agent

I pulled fall denim against last season’s curve at the same selling week. Two causes, both still fixable this week.

SignalFinding
sell_throughWeek 6 sell-through 38% vs. 52% plan, concentrated in 3 of 9 door clusters
size_curveWaist 30–32 sold out in 41 doors while 36–38 sits at 71% on hand
markdown.ladderFirst markdown is 3 weeks later than LY, weeks-of-supply now 11.4

Recommend: transfer 30–32 out of the 12 overstocked doors, hold the ladder on core indigo, and take the first markdown on light wash now while it still clears at 20%.

9 parallel queries 3 sources cited confidence 0.89
Draft the size-curve transfer list.
You · 9:43 AM
Allocation Agent · drafting transfer list
Querying sell_through_weekly
Ask anything, Ward routes to the right agent. Cmd+K

Reporting

Pinned views built from saved data-lake queries. Every number re-derivable from its SQL.

7d13w52w
Revenue vs. plan
$31.7M
+3.1% WoW
Full-price mix
61.4%
−5.1pp
Sell-through, fall denim
38.2%
wk6, −9pp vs plan
Markdown rate
19.6%
+2.8pp
Revenue vs. plan 13 weeks actual, 6 weeks forecast, 80% interval
Actual Forecast 80% interval
% of plan 106 94 100 forecast → W−13 W−5 today +6wk
Holt-Winters + weather regressor MAPE 4.1% at 4wk Backtested 24 months Crosses plan in 3 weeks
Forecast error by horizon MAPE, 24-month backtest
1wk 2.1%
2wk 3.0%
4wk 4.1%
8wk 6.3%
13wk 8.9%
Accuracy bar for promo decisions: ≤5% at 4wk
Models in production Every forecast ships a model card
ModelHorizonMAPE
holt_winters4wk4.1%
arima_sarimax13wk8.9%
gbm_demand1wk2.1%
bayes_hiernew store11.4%

Sources

Connect external systems to the data lake.

NameTypeLast sync
shopify_orders_dailyimport2m ago
shopify_returns_reasonsimport2m ago
netsuite_inventory_snapshotimport14m ago
cegid_store_salesimport1h ago
retail_size_curve_actualsimport1h ago
retail_markdown_ladderimport1h ago
retail_ga4_website_dailyimport1h ago

Policies

Browse and manage Cedar access policies for your tenant.

TLS 1.3 AES-256 Read-only SOC 2 II
Policy IDEffectResources
merch-read-defaultpermitModel::*
finance-read-markdownpermitModel::"markdown_ladder"
vendor-blockedforbidModel::"labor_*"
ecom-read-returnspermitModel::"returns_reasons"
for Fashion, live product demo.

What Ward delivers

  • GMROI tracking by category with weekly insight cards
  • Inventory carrying cost alerts when capital efficiency drops
  • Working capital optimization recommendations based on turnover trends
  • SSS decomposition into traffic, conversion, and basket components
  • Store-level unit economics cards for capex prioritization

Metrics Ward monitors

Sell-through rate
Markdown %
Return rate
Style velocity
Size accuracy

Fashion challenges Ward solves

  • Markdown timing
  • Size curve misallocation
  • Style velocity prediction
  • Return rate management
  • Seasonal transition

What Ward has eyes on.

Coverage is store by store, category by category. Ward monitors sell-through rate, markdown %, return rate over 15,000+ SKUs and compares each store against its own baseline, not against the chain. That is the difference between knowing the store base is fine and knowing which seven locations are not.

Why this combination
is its own problem.

A CFO in fashion retail owns numbers that move faster than the reporting cycle that covers them. Sell-through rate, markdown %, return rate shift store by store, every morning. A monthly pack cannot represent that. Your P&L surprises are born on the store floor.

Your P&L surprises are born on the store floor.

Pain points
  • ×Margin erosion only surfaces at month-end close
  • ×Inventory carrying costs are a black box
  • ×Working capital tied up in slow-moving stock nobody is watching
  • ×Same-store sales comps lack decomposition into actionable drivers
  • ×Capex decisions for store remodels lack unit-economics evidence
How Ward helps
  • GMROI tracking by category with weekly insight cards
  • Inventory carrying cost alerts when capital efficiency drops
  • Working capital optimization recommendations based on turnover trends
  • SSS decomposition into traffic, conversion, and basket components
  • Store-level unit economics cards for capex prioritization

Inventory distortion, overstock and out-of-stock combined, costs retailers $1.77 trillion globally. Source: IHL Group

Fashion KPI impact

Markdown Rate
Shallower, earlier
Slow movers detected before deep clearance is the only option.
Sell-Through
More at full price
Style velocity cards flag underperformers early enough to reallocate.
Size Accuracy
Fewer size gaps
Size curves recalibrated by store cluster and season.
Return Rate
Better matching
Right size, right store means fewer returns.

Frequently asked questions

Your P&L surprises are born on the store floor. Ward solves this with automated insight cards: GMROI tracking by category with weekly insight cards. Inventory carrying cost alerts when capital efficiency drops. Working capital optimization recommendations based on turnover trends.

Ward delivers daily insight cards covering Sell-through rate, Markdown %, Return rate, tailored for Finance decision-making. Each card includes what changed, why it matters, and what to do next.

First insight cards arrive within 48 hours of data connection. Ward needs approximately 2 weeks to establish stable baselines for your specific operation.

No. Ward sits on top of your existing stack. It is the proactive intelligence layer that watches your data continuously and delivers insight cards, so your team acts on findings instead of hunting for them.

See what Fashion problems Ward catches.

Root causes, not just alerts. See it on your data.

Read-only to start · your LLM keys · SOC 2 Type II underway · or book a call directly

Find out what your data has been hiding.

Tell us about your operation. We’ll show you the problems Ward catches, and the ones your current tools miss.

Step 1 of 3
What are your goals?
Step 2 of 3
About your operation
Step 3 of 3
Your contact info