Jonas Albrecht
Writes about business models, margins, pricing and international expansion in fashion.
Articles by Jonas Albrecht
AI in fashion merchandising: what it does, what it needs and where it fails
Machine learning now supports forecasting, assortment, pricing and planning decisions in fashion. This guide explains the use cases, the data they depend on and how merchants stay in control.
How does AI inventory optimisation reduce deadstock and stockouts in fashion?
Fashion stock is perishable: too much ends in markdowns, too little in lost sales. Here is how AI models balance the two, what evidence exists and what they need to work.
What is demand sensing and how does it work in fashion?
Demand sensing updates short-term forecasts with the latest sales and external signals. In fashion it mainly improves in-season decisions: replenishment, transfers and markdowns.
How can AI improve open-to-buy and merchandise budget planning?
Open-to-buy tells buyers how much they can still spend without breaking sales and stock targets. AI can keep that number current and more realistic, provided the plan behind it is sound.
How H&M uses AI: demand, allocation and digital twins
H&M has applied analytics and AI to buying quantities, store allocation and pricing since 2018, and to campaign imagery since 2025. What is documented, and what it has not disclosed.
AI for merchandisers and planners: a practical guide
How AI supports merchandise financial planning, forecasting, allocation, replenishment and markdowns in fashion, what data it needs, what planners still decide and how to start.
AI demand forecasting in fashion: how it works and where it fails
Machine learning can improve fashion forecasts for carry-over lines and replenishment, but new styles, short seasons and trend shifts remain hard. What leaders should expect, and what not to.
AI and pricing: markdown optimisation explained
Markdown optimisation uses demand models to decide when and how deeply to discount. How it works, what it needs, and why brand and wholesale relationships must set its limits.
The AI vocabulary every fashion buyer should know
Suppliers, brands and internal teams increasingly talk about models, agents and embeddings. A practical glossary for fashion buyers, with what each term means for buying decisions.
Open-to-buy explained: how fashion retailers budget their buying
Open-to-buy tells a buyer how much stock can still be purchased without breaking the plan. Here is how it is calculated, used and commonly misused.
The retail buying calendar: a year in the life of a fashion buyer
Fashion buyers work across several seasons at once. How the buying year is structured, what happens at each stage and how the calendar is shifting.
Retail metrics explained: sell-through, GMROI and weeks of cover
Three metrics answer most questions about how fashion stock is performing. How to calculate sell-through, GMROI and weeks of cover, and read them together.
How margins work in fashion, from factory to shop floor
From the factory cost to the price on the swing tag: how landed cost, wholesale markup and retail markup combine, and why markdowns decide what margin is really earned.
Pricing architecture: wholesale price, RRP and currency price lists
How fashion brands structure price points, wholesale prices, recommended retail prices and currency lists into one coherent system that retailers trust and finance can defend.