Over the past two years buyer behaviour has clearly shifted: average order size is down roughly 30% while order frequency is up, driven by high inventory costs and more volatile end demand.
For a trade partner this means winning the big order is no longer the only goal — delivering small batches within 7 days and supporting rolling repeats is what keeps customers.
B&N splits categories into base parts and cosmetic parts: base parts are kept as safety stock while cosmetic parts are made to order. This preserves responsiveness without dead stock in slow-moving colorways.
We advise partners to fix their first-order structure 90 days before peak, putting 60% of budget on confirmed styles and leaving 40% for data-validated repeats — a cadence proven across several 2025 projects.