In the competitive world of retail and footwear, brands that scale effectively while maintaining innovation gain a significant edge. During our recent webinar, kizik’s merchandising leaders, Gretchen Weimer, Chief Merchandising Officer, and Heather Kananowicz, VP of Merchandising, shared their journey of scaling from a small core product line to a more complex portfolio—all while navigating the typical challenges of disconnected tools and inefficient processes.
Missed the live session? Watch the on-demand recording here.
Scaling in Complexity—And Why Excel Wasn’t Enough
Like many fast-growing brands, kizik initially relied on tools like Excel to manage their line planning, SKU management, and other key processes throughout the product development cycle. While functional in the early stages, the limitations of using Excel quickly became apparent as the product assortment grew.
The team experienced constant setbacks with Excel, including:
- Version control issues disrupted real-time collaboration, leading to confusion across teams.
- Manual consolidation of data from multiple sources consumed valuable time, especially when forecasting or adjusting product plans with international partners.
- Lack of visuals meant that the team was constantly flipping between Excel for data and PowerPoint for product imagery, wasting time and risking alignment issues.
Heather noted, “We were managing the line off Excel documents in a shared folder, then having to share that information across multiple functions while simultaneously pushing the product to full speed. The result? Countless hours spent updating documents, correcting errors, and manually syncing data.”
Why kizik Chose VibeIQ Over a Traditional PLM
As kizik grew, it became clear that they needed more than Excel and PowerPoint could offer. With extensive experience working with traditional PLM systems, the team knew implementing a traditional PLM system at that critical stage would have taken too long and wouldn’t have solved their immediate challenges.
Instead, kizik turned to VibeIQ to bridge the gap. VibeIQ’s Digital Product Workspce provided all teams with a single platform that enabled real-time collaboration across merchandising, design, and production, connecting everyone remotely and giving everyone visibility to every stage of the process.
According to Gretchen, “We needed a space where everyone—remote or in-house—could plan the line, create collaboratively, and access accurate, real-time data. VibeIQ offered all of that and more.”
A Single Source of Truth for Merchandising Teams
For merchandising leaders, the ability to access real-time data across functions is critical. With VibeIQ, kizik was able to:
- Centralize product data, eliminating the need for constant manual updates across different platforms.
- Integrate visuals directly into their workflow, allowing teams to plan the line with the same tool they used to manage data.
- Reduce preparation time for key milestones from weeks to hours, as Heather described, “What used to take me a week now takes less than a day.”
This move toward a single source of truth allowed Kizik’s teams to make faster, more informed decisions around product assortment, forecasting, and planning, ultimately speeding up the go-to-market process.
kizik’s Vision for the Future with VibeIQ
Looking ahead, kizik’s team is enthusiastic about the future with VibeIQ. Gretchen and Heather see VibeIQ as a long-term solution that can grow alongside their business, supporting not just product line expansion but also their international and wholesale strategies.
As Gretchen emphasized, “We’re uncovering new possibilities with VibeIQ daily. It’s not just about what it does for us now, but how it continues to evolve with our needs.”
Interested to learn more about where kizik intends to grow with VibeIQ? Watch the on-demand recording.
Interested in learning how VibeIQ can help your team realize operational efficiencies like kizik? Get in touch!
