Retail’s at a crossroads. It’s high stakes. Profit or perish.

Now is not the time to batten down the hatches, ride out the storm and wait for better conditions.

I’ve lived and breathed retail for over a decade. I’ve seen the highs but banged my head against enough brick walls to know that standing still is not an option for retailers with ambitions of still being around in 10 years’ time.. 

Constraints killing competitiveness 

Curbs on tech investment are flat out competition killers. 

Well-meaning belt tightening has never seemed so short-sighted. I get it, market conditions are tough, but a failure to invest now is a lightning-quick, one-way ticket to even tougher times.

I clocked up 15 years at Gucci, Kering and Bottega Veneta, before joining autone. I’ve got the scars to prove that traditional models of allocating and distributing goods are pushing profitability down to unsustainable levels. 

Brands simply can’t continue with unintuitive, manual processes and have any hope of challenging better armed, smarter forecasted and more effectively distributed competitors. 

So, when retailers ask themselves the question: when should we invest in our inventory management tech? The real question they’ll be asking is when should we have invested? 

The speed that the right tech can turn into a competitive advantage is leaving late adopters so far behind they’ll cease to be competition at all.

The impact on profitability is immediate for those who invest—something often entirely underestimated by those who don’t. Things happen quickly. I’ve seen it myself from both sides, results follow fast and competitors get left behind.

Solving the unsolvable

When I saw the autone platform for the first time, I was blown away by how it completely solved the problems I’d battled against in my career as a planner. 

It’s now possible to solve something that I thought impossible. My own personal nightmare has been banished and a simpler, and more profitable, future is in reach for those brands who are quick enough to act.

Retailers using our system report up to a 55% reduction in inventory levels, a 25% increase in forecasting accuracy, a 30% increase in sales, and save 45 hours per week on manual tasks. We're tackling every aspect of the industry, and won't compromise on any part of it.

Crystal-clear insights

As product and customer experience director at autone, I see on a daily basis how our users are maximizing their results, ditching the guesswork and demystifying inventory management for good. 

Did someone say ‘94% increase in stock availability’? Great news for the luxury fashion brand leaving you in its wake.

I’ve braved Dante’s Nine Circles of Ex-hell (an Excel pun with a reference to classical literature!?—I’m Italian, scusi!) as a planner. So, when I look at the tool I do it through a planner’s eyes. 

The potential for every brand we work with to improve its profitability is mind-blowing.

autone’s forecast engine leverages AI and machine learning, so even when we churn out an eye-watering sales projection we know the numbers will be unbelievably accurate. And I don’t mean just compared to conventional processes but other solutions in the market too.

It’s time to re-think that sit-and-wait strategy and explore intuitive inventory management that frees up humans to focus on what matters—and automizes the rest. It’s a game changer for profitability.

This is the second post in our latest Profit or Perish series where we uncover the key retail trends that’ll dominate 2025 according to the hottest names in retail. Watch this space for more predictions coming soon.