Challenge
Fable needed a scalable solution to manage complex demand planning
As Fable expanded its product lines and entered new markets, the company quickly outpaced its existing planning systems. Excel and Google Sheets models that once supported its smaller operations no longer kept up with Fable's new demand and the complexities of a fast-growing business.Â
To continue its upward trajectory, Joe Parenteau, Co-founder and CEO of Fable, saw a major opportunity to enhance its demand and supply planning processes. But with the company's current planning strategy, lack of historical data, and unique discounting approach, this was easier said than done.
"Demand and supply planning for Fable has always been a challenge," Joe explains. "We were such a young company. We didn't have a lot of time to develop our demand and supply planning processes."
Fable's distinct approach to pricing and promotions, its multi-currency operations, and its pre-order system added additional layers of complexity to its financial and supply-demand modeling, heavily impacting its bottom line.
The Fable team needed a cost-effective solution that could both manage these unique factors and handle negative stock situations on Shopify — all while being flexible enough to grow with their rapidly evolving business model.
Joe and his team explored various options to address these challenges, including hiring multiple demand planners — all of whom eventually resigned due to the role's complexity. They also piloted off-the-shelf software solutions but were caught between expensive enterprise tools or overly simplistic alternatives.
When Joe discovered Moselle, he knew he'd finally found the right solution to support Fable's fast-growing supply and demand.
"For a long time, before we had homed in on Moselle, we were just under-served. Either a solution would be too expensive for us, or it would be a solution that wasn't really solving the problem. It could only get us 50 or 60% of the way there."
Solution
End-to-end demand forecasting support with Moselle's customizable platform
Moselle's flexible platform tackled Fable's complex planning challenges head-on, offering to launch new features fast to support the company's multi-currency operations, pre-order planning, and distinctive pricing strategy — everything Joe was looking for in a demand forecasting tool.
Moselle collaborated closely with Joe's team to tailor the solution to Fable's unique needs, including a custom pricing matrix to account for promotional pricing across different currencies and time periods.Â
"The flexibility is remarkable," says Joe. "We can choose to base our forecasts on three-month, six-month, or even nine-month averages." As a result, Fable can now fine-tune its projections and achieve the highest possible accuracy across all aspects of its pricing strategy.
Fable also uses Moselle to streamline its monthly demand planning cycle, integrating inputs from e-commerce, retail, and B2B teams into a comprehensive forecast to create multi-faceted sales plans that consider all business areas.
By automating these formerly manual forecasting and planning processes, Joe and his team now focus their time on product expansion. And with Moselle's ability to flag potential stock-out risks, Fable can proactively adjust its merchandising and marketing strategies to meet customer demand every time.
"There's been a lot more peace of mind in terms of feeling like this is a good plan and knowing what we're doing. There were periods in our history where we didn't even have a plan, but now we have a good data system backing it that's helping us get to a good output."
Results
Fable saves $120,000 annually while scaling across 4 new product categories
The Fable team now has confidence in their planning process, moving from manual spreadsheet-based forecasting to a more data-driven approach.
Here's a snapshot of the impact Fable's seen with Moselle so far:
- $120,000 annual savings by eliminating a full-time demand planner role
- 80 hours saved per month on forecasting and planning tasks
- Only a 10% variance between recent and actual forecasts
Joe views Moselle as a crucial partner in Fable's growth strategy. As the company expands its product range and enters new markets, Moselle's scalable solution will play a key role in managing the increasing complexity of their supply and demand planning.
"Fable's growing a lot this year and we're expanding our product line across four new product categories. Our reliance on Moselle is a big part of our growth plan."
