Retail Me Smart
Retail Me Smart

Data tools for retail success

Big Retail, Small StoreFall 2026 edition · October 13, 2026

Lean stock paid off. Cutting the marketing didn't.

We charted the latest quarter for 82 US public retailers and brands in apparel, accessories, beauty, toy, children's and home, straight from their SEC filings. The 12 that sell mostly online are highlighted, and the lessons below come from them. Most cut inventory, and the ones that did it while still selling at full price grew their margins. The ones that cut ads or promotions to save money lost traffic and customers.

Sign up for quarterly insightsSee the chart
On the chart
82
Sell mostly online
12
Sold faster than they stocked
55 of 82

The overlay

Every company's inventory, laid over its sales

Each dot is one retailer's latest quarter against a year earlier. Below the line, sales grew faster than stock. Above it, stock piled up faster than it sold, and markdowns came next.

Sells mostly online12Stores, wholesale or mixed70sales grew fasterstock grew faster
Stock outran salesSales outran stock-30%-30%-20%-20%-10%-10%0%0%+10%+10%+20%+20%+30%+30%Sales growth vs last yearInventory growth vs last yearFigsRevolvea.k.a.LulusStitch FixLands' EndDuluthReformationWilliams-SonomaGroveSolo BrandsHour Loop

Tap or hover a dot to see the numbers. Dots above the dashed line grew inventory faster than sales. That gap is what turns into markdowns.

Put your store on the chart

Compare the last 12 months to the 12 before. Nothing you type leaves this page.

Who ran heavy, who ran lean

The online sellers' numbers as rows, sorted by the gap. The top of this list is where the extra stock sat. In your store, the free Weeks of Supply file does this product by product, so you can see which items are carrying the extra.

Run the check on your store
Sales growth Inventory growth Sells mostly online
  • Revolve
    12.4 heavy
  • Grove
    10.7 heavy
  • Lands' End
    8 heavy
  • Reformation
    1.6 heavy
  • Stitch Fix
    0.5 lean
  • Williams-Sonoma
    5.7 lean
  • Lulus
    6.5 lean
  • Duluth
    7.7 lean
  • a.k.a.
    13.3 lean
  • Solo Brands
    25.1 lean
  • Hour Loop
    25.6 lean
  • Figs
    40.6 lean

"Heavy" means inventory grew faster than sales by that many percentage points. Bars stop at 30%.

Copy this

What worked

+330 bp

Lulus gross margin after cutting inventory 23%

Cut the stock, keep the full price

Lulus cut inventory 23% to $28.6M and gross margin rose 330 bp to 48.6%, its best second quarter since 2021 (Q2 2026). a.k.a. Brands cut inventory 14% and, with lower tariffs and better full-price selling, lifted gross margin to 61.1% from 57.5% (Q2 2026).

Copy this

Buy less of your slow movers so more of what you sell goes at full price. A smaller, cleaner assortment usually earns more margin than a big one you have to discount.

Source:Lulusa.k.a. Brands

+28.8%

Figs sales growth on 11.8% less inventory

Grow sales without growing stock

Figs grew sales 28.8% with inventory down 11.8% from a year earlier (Q2 2026). Williams-Sonoma grew comparable sales 6.2% with inventory up only 1% (Q2 2026). Hour Loop grew sales 25% with inventory flat (Q2 2026).

Copy this

Before you reorder, check that your inventory is growing slower than your sales. If it isn't, the order is too big.

Source:FigsWilliams-SonomaHour Loop

$592

Stitch Fix revenue per client, a record

Raise the order value, not just the order count

Stitch Fix hit a record $592 of revenue per active client (+7.8%) and average order value rose 4.9% while client count slipped 1.4% (Q4 FY26). Figs raised average order value 8.5% to $127 on pricing and mix (Q2 2026). Grove's revenue per order rose 6.1% to $69.19 (Q2 2026).

Copy this

Bundles, higher-priced add-ons and fewer discounts raise what each customer spends. Track average order value every month next to your order count.

Source:Stitch FixFigsGrove Collaborative

+90 bp

Revolve gross margin from smarter markdowns

Let sell-through set the markdowns

Revolve's gross margin rose about 90 bp, not counting tariff refunds, "fueled primarily by successful AI and data-driven recalibrations of our markdown algorithm." Its return rate also fell for a second straight quarter (Q2 2026).

Copy this

Mark down by sell-through, not by the calendar. Items selling slower than plan get cut first and deepest. Items on pace stay at full price.

Source:Revolve Group

~80%

of Reformation sales at full price, for years

Make full price the habit

Reformation grew sales 24.1% and says full-price selling has averaged "approximately 80% over the last several years" (Q2 2026 call).

Copy this

Track the share of units you sell at full price. If it starts dropping, you bought more than your customers want at your price.

Source:Reformation

+25%

Hour Loop sales after better availability

Keep the winners in stock

Hour Loop, an Amazon seller of toys and home goods, grew sales 25% and credited "expanded inventory availability" on what sells, while total inventory stayed flat with a year earlier (Q2 2026).

Copy this

Lean doesn't mean empty. Cut the tail, but keep enough depth on your top sellers that they never run out.

Source:Hour Loop

Nothing from All in this section this quarter.

Take note

What didn't

-23.3%

Grove active customers after cutting ad spend

Cutting ads to save money

Grove cut advertising to $1.2M from $2.7M. Active customers on its own site fell 23.3% and revenue fell 16.9% (Q2 2026).

Take note

Cut the campaigns that don't pay back, not the whole budget. New customers stop showing up a quarter or two after you cut.

Source:Grove Collaborative

-11.5%

Duluth online sales after cutting promotions

Pulling promotions with nothing in their place

Duluth's online sales fell 11.5% as web traffic and conversion dropped after it cut promotions (Q2 FY26), though its margin rose. Solo Stove sales fell 14.7% while it held back on discounts. Rent the Runway lost 3.8% of subscribers after cutting promotions (Q2 2026).

Take note

If customers are used to waiting for a sale, expect a dip when you stop. Give them another reason to buy now: a new drop, a restock alert or a bundle.

Source:Duluth TradingSolo BrandsRent the Runway

+13%

Lands' End inventory, on sales up 5%

Stock that outran sales

Lands' End let inventory grow 13% to $342M while sales grew 5% (3 months to Jul 31, 2026). Revolve's inventory rose 25% on sales up 12%, which it puts down to a tariff-delayed quarter a year earlier (Q2 2026).

Take note

Check your open orders against this year's sales trend, not last year's plan. Cancel or push back what you can before it lands.

Source:Lands' EndRevolve Group

-17%

Lulus revenue as orders fell and returns rose

Returns from the wrong mix

Lulus revenue fell 17% as orders fell 17%, and returns rose because of what customers bought. Active customers fell 13% to 2.2M (Q2 2026).

Take note

Track return rate by product. A style that sells well but comes back a third of the time is not a best seller.

Source:Lulus

-4.3 pts

Hour Loop gross margin after a pricing change

Buying growth with price

Hour Loop's gross margin fell to 52.9% from 57.2% after it changed its sales strategy. A year earlier it had held prices up because of tariffs (Q2 2026).

Take note

Before you cut prices to grow, work out how many more units you need to sell to make the same gross margin dollars.

Source:Hour Loop

Nothing from All in this section this quarter.

Watch for

Risks ahead

780 bp

of Figs' margin jump was a one-time tariff refund

Tariff refunds flatter this year's margins

Figs' gross margin rose 820 bp to 75.2%, but 780 bp of that was a one-time refund of tariffs the Supreme Court struck down (Q2 2026). Reformation warned the lift from lower tariffs will shrink in the back half. Williams-Sonoma's merchandise margin fell 230 bp, mainly from tariffs.

Watch for

If a supplier passed a tariff refund back to you, don't treat that margin as normal when you set next year's prices.

Source:FigsReformationWilliams-Sonoma

16.5%

of Revolve sales spent on marketing

Customers cost more to win

Revolve raised marketing to 16.5% of sales, up 130 bp (Q2 2026). Duluth's selling and admin costs reached 57.3% of sales on higher advertising and shipping. Lands' End raised digital marketing to find new customers.

Watch for

Know what a new customer costs you and what they spend in a year. If that cost is rising faster than your order value, work on order value first.

Source:Revolve GroupDuluth TradingLands' End

Shipping keeps getting pricier

Stitch Fix held gross margin flat at 43.6% despite carrier rate increases (Q4 FY26). Revolve and Duluth both named higher shipping costs (Q2 2026).

Watch for

Recheck your free-shipping threshold every time your carrier raises rates.

Source:Stitch FixRevolve GroupDuluth Trading

Demand is soft and choosy

Solo Brands said its online demand "softened in June as consumers remained selective in their discretionary spending" (Q2 2026). Stitch Fix guided next year's revenue roughly flat at $1.31B to $1.36B (Q4 FY26).

Watch for

Plan your next season on flat sales and hold back part of the budget to chase what actually sells.

Source:Solo BrandsStitch Fix

System changes in a busy season

Lands' End rolled out a new warehouse system and shipping was disrupted for a while (3 months to Jul 31, 2026).

Watch for

Don't switch warehouses, apps or shipping software in your busiest months.

Source:Lands' End

Nothing from All in this section this quarter.

Try this

Where they're betting next

3x

conversion for Williams-Sonoma shoppers using its AI assistant

AI that answers shoppers

Williams-Sonoma told Customer Experience Dive that shoppers who use its AI assistant convert at 3x the rate of others, and that Pottery Barn's assistant handles over 70% of chats without a person (Q2 2026). Stitch Fix more than doubled the share of customer chats its AI tools resolve on their own (Q4 FY26).

Try this

Start with the 20 questions customers email you most, about sizing, shipping and returns, and put the answers where shoppers see them before they ask.

Source:Williams-SonomaStitch Fix

+12%

more add-to-bag at Rent the Runway with outfit ideas

Show the outfit, not just the item

Rent the Runway's in-app outfit builder reached 35% engagement, and shoppers who saw it added to bag 12% more often (Q2 2026). Revolve is rolling out photo search so shoppers can upload a picture and find similar items.

Try this

Add "complete the look" sets and outfit photos to your top product pages. It's the small-store version of the same idea.

Source:Rent the RunwayRevolve Group

3.1x

spend by Reformation customers who shop online and in store

Online brands are adding stores and wholesale

Reformation customers who shop both online and in its stores make up 34% of revenue and spend 3.1x as much. a.k.a. Brands plans four new Princess Polly stores this year and up to ten more in 2027. Lulus' wholesale business, including Nordstrom, nearly doubled (Q2 2026).

Try this

A pop-up, a market stall or one wholesale account can reach customers your ads don't. Test one before you sign a lease.

Source:Reformationa.k.a. BrandsLulus

A second channel, priced right

Grove's growth came mainly from QVC and Amazon while its own site slipped (Q2 2026). Hour Loop does about 98% of its sales on Amazon. Lands' End deliberately shrank its marketplace sales 20.4% to stop chasing "lower-value promotional volume."

Try this

A marketplace can add sales, but price it so it doesn't undercut your own site or train customers to shop you there on discount.

Source:Grove CollaborativeHour LoopLands' End

+67%

Figs international revenue

Grow next to the best seller

Figs grew international revenue 67% to $37.9M, and products beyond scrubs grew 40.3% (Q2 2026).

Try this

Before adding something new, add the product next to your best seller: the matching piece, the next size or the refill.

Source:Figs

Small price increases on proven sellers

Reformation went back to its usual yearly price increases this year after pausing in 2025 (Q2 2026 call). Figs raised average order value partly through pricing.

Try this

Raise prices a little at a time on items that sell through at full price, and watch units for a month after.

Source:ReformationFigs

Nothing from All in this section this quarter.

By sector

The mood tag is our read of each sector's calls this round, not a number. Tap a sector to see only its companies and lessons.

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  • Who's on the chart: 82 US public companies in our six sectors with both net sales and inventory in their filings. The 12 highlighted dots make more than half their sales online, as the company states it or as we worked out from its reported channel sales; the lessons come from them. The rest sell mostly through stores or wholesale. Wayfair is left off the chart because it ships mostly from suppliers and holds almost no inventory of its own.
  • Chart numbers come from each company's latest 10-Q or 10-K as filed with the SEC: net sales and inventory for the latest quarter against the same quarter a year earlier. Reformation went public in 2026 and its filings have no year-ago inventory, so its inventory figure comes from its earnings call.
  • Several companies booked one-time refunds of tariffs struck down in February 2026. Margins quoted here say so where it matters.
  • "Copy this" lines are our read for a small store, not the companies' words. Details marked "call summary" come from a third-party write-up of the call.
All 83 sources