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How many SKUs does JCrew, Gap, Ralph Lauren, and Saks 5th each have per year?
Hello! Thanks for asking Wonder about the number of SKUs for J. Crew, Gap, Ralph Lauren, and Saks Fifth Avenue.
In short, after an exhaustive search, I've determined that the information you have requested is not publicly available because retailers do not release this data. However, I was able to learn that Ralph Lauren has the largest number of SKUs among luxury retailers with 14,000 SKUs online. Saks Fifth Avenue offers 423 designers and 68,651 non-sale items that come in as many as 19 color options and 32 size options, making the total number of SKUs quite massive. J. Crew and Gap have not made their SKU count public, but a former employee at J. Crew indicates she managed over 600 SKUs for the company. The Gap website shows 2,963 new items that may come in as many as 65 size options and 14 color options. Below, please find the results of my research, along with my methodology.
METHODOLOGY / OVERVIEW
Retailers apparently keep their SKU data largely under lock and key because I found very few solid references to this data, aside from a few random mentions regarding a reduction in SKUs or SKU optimization efforts. I've searched through company websites, financial documents, and press releases. I also searched industry news sources, such as Business of Fashion, Fibre to Fashion, Retail Touchpoints, and Fierce Retail. Additionally, I searched through top news sources, such as Forbes, the Wall Street Journal, and the New York Times, all of which have sections on the retail industry.
Apparently, retailers are not forthcoming with information regarding the number of SKUs they maintain or add on a regular basis. I found one reference for Ralph Lauren, which I elaborate on below, but I found no similar data for the other companies. Therefore, as a last resort, I visited the websites of each company to determine the feasibility of counting the SKUs currently available. However, the number of items at these websites is pretty massive and I found no data on how often items are added or removed from these sites.
RALPH LAUREN
In January 2016, Forbes reported that Ralph Lauren has more SKUs online than any other luxury retailer, boasting 14,000 SKUs. A recent Earnings Call states that the company is reducing its SKU count by 20% for spring and fall of 2017. Also, an April 2017 article at Smart Stock News states that the company is evaluating its "SKU count rationalization (eliminating ~1/3 of unproductive tail)." I visited the Ralph Lauren website and checked the New Arrivals section of each category (men, women, boys, girls, and baby) and counted a total of 1,505 new arrivals, with 416 of those in the Mens section. However, I could find no information that suggests how often New Arrivals are added.
SAKS FIFTH AVENUE
Finding no precompiled data for Saks Fifth Avenue, I visited the company's website to attempt some calculations to offer you a glimpse of the potential number of SKUs there. Saks has 423 designers listed at their website, so the number of individual SKUs would be pretty massive. I added up the number of items in each category on the website, omitting sale items, and came up with a total of 68,651. However, that number represents items, not SKUs. Since there is a typically separate SKU for every color, size, and price of an item, the total number of SKUs would be exponentially larger. For instance, in the Women's section, there are 27,769 items. The search features offer 19 color options and 32 size options. So there could potentially be 19 colors for each of 32 sizes for 27,769 items, and we still haven't accounted for price points.
Also, this only represents their online offerings. I found no data that would help me triangulate the number of SKUs offered at their physical stores, though there would likely be some overlap with their online offerings. The same issues apply to the following two companies.
J. CREW
J. Crew makes it more difficult to count the items on their website because it does not show totals for each category or sub-category. So I would have to manually count every item in about 100 categories. Since that is outside the scope of this request, I'll provide an example from one category, the Women's Shirts and Tops category. They show 95 items in this category, which can be filtered by 12 colors and 44 size options.
I found no hard statistics for J. Crew's total SKUs, except for a reference in a former employee's LinkedIn profile, in which she states that she was responsible for analyzing a SKU count of over 600 for 3 brands at over 512 stores.
GAP INC
Gap also makes it difficult to assess their SKU count. Its website is organized across a wide number of categories and sub-categories. However, each category offers a New Arrivals section, so I gathered the totals for each category and came up with a total of 2,963 new items. Again, I found no information that suggests how often these new items are added to the website. I counted 65 size options and 14 color options in the Women's section, but these options would vary depending on the category. These numbers only account for the Gap brand, but Gap also owns Old Navy, Banana Republic, and Athleta.
SUMMARY
To sum up, while data on the total annual SKU count for Ralph Lauren, Saks Fifth Avenue, J. Crew, and Gap was not publicly available, I was able to learn that Ralph Lauren has the highest number of SKUs among luxury retailers with 14,000 SKUs in the online offerings. Saks Fifth Avenue has 68,651 non-sale items on its website that come in as many as 19 color options and 32 size options. A former J. Crew employee noted that she was responsible for over 600 SKUs across three brands. Gap shows 2,963 new items on its website that may come in as many as 65 size options and 14 color options.
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