10 November 2026
The group will use Slimstock’s platform to plan stock across its brands, channels and markets.
Planning stock for an outdoor business is far from simple. Demand depends on the seasons and the weather, and selling seasons can be short. Oberalp Group has to plan stock for six proprietary brands, third-party brand distribution, wholesale, retail and e-commerce channels, and several markets.
Oberalp has chosen Slimstock’s Slim4 platform to give its team an overview of demand and stock. The project is part of the company’s digital transformation. Its aim is to optimise the planning process while keeping product availability, margins and working capital at the centre.
An overview of the whole business
Oberalp’s planners must take account of factors such as seasonality, weather, shorter selling seasons and longer lead times. Commercial planning, merchandising, purchasing, supply chain and finance must work together.
“At the moment, forecasting, procurement, allocation and replenishment processes are hard to integrate,” said Alessandra Spada, Group Demand Planning Manager at Oberalp. “We want all teams to work from a single plan. This should help us improve product availability and avoid holding stock we don’t need.”
Oberalp intends to bring processes and tools that are currently managed separately into a single demand and supply plan. The company also wants consistent data and a traceable decision-making process behind its planning.
“We don’t want forecasts to be overly influenced by commercial input,” said Alessandra Spada, Group Demand Planning Manager at Oberalp. “We need to be able to distinguish regular demand from demand linked to launches, seasonality and new products. We also need to be able to check whether forecasts show systematic errors.”
Why Oberalp chose Slimstock
The company assessed the options, considering the need for a supply chain management system and its own specific requirements: a very diverse product portfolio, and sales and planning processes much closer to the fashion world. Slimstock was judged able to meet these requirements, supporting planning by exception and fitting into Oberalp’s planned development path.
“We know we’re not a fashion retailer like any other,” said Alessandra Spada. “Of course, we have fashion-related products and seasonal range/collection logic, but our business is much more varied and our supply chain is more complex than that. That’s why we believe Slimstock is the right solution for us.”
The software allows different strategies for managing seasonal collections, continuing collections and demand for items with irregular demand. For Oberalp, another important factor was being able to adopt the software without changing the team’s day-to-day work.
“The way the Slimstock team is working with us has been very important,” said Alessandra Spada. “They understand us, and we are collaborating in a practical way.”
The improvements Oberalp expects
Oberalp intends to define a specific policy for each product family: continuing, seasonal, new, highly volatile demand and range-constrained. This will let planners manage each product according to how it sells.
“Teams should spend less time gathering information and more time making decisions,” added Alessandra Spada. “The end goal is very clear: to have the right products in stock, without exceeding the necessary levels of stock and working capital.”
