As I’ve worked with retailers over the years, I am constantly reminded that “seasonality” takes many different forms for each unique business. While the holiday season is key for most retailers, Sur la Table – for example – also prepares to answer their customers’ needs for summer BBQ season. Luxury retailers prepare for, and then ride the wave of, Fashion Week. And although I obsess over these trends - like the Southern BBQ eating, fashion-loving retail junkie that I am - I also hearken back to the early days in my career as a sports marketer on team Chevrolet as I look at seasonality. You want to talk about the need to prepare your retail business to meet consumer demand with inventory visibility, cross-channel data action and operational efficiency? Think Super Bowl, the US Open (way to go, Dallas-native Jordan Spieth!) or the Olympic Games.

With Wimbledon commencing this month, sports fans and retailers alike will soon be hoping that Andy Murray manages to emulate his 2013 success or that Roger Federer ends his Grand Slam drought. Around this time every year, there is a noticeable spike in interest surrounding tennis, however attention quickly wanes as soon as the local favorite is knocked out.

So how should retailers have prepared for the inevitable influx in requests for trainers, shirts, shorts and rackets as the most popular (and less well-known) players are progressing through the tournament? And how should they be set to handle the overstock if Murray gets knocked out in the first round?

According to the latest quarterly Distributive Trades Survey from CBI, growth in retail sales volumes picked up strongly in May with expectations for the next couple of months to follow, aiming to be at their highest for 27 years. Combine this with the gear-up of the tennis season and people will inevitably be flocking to their nearest sporting goods retailer to stock up on all the winning essentials.

In order to make the most of this industry boom (and any seasonal moment) retailers need to ensure they have a single view of inventory and stock so that they don’t risk over-stocking slow selling items and under-stocking popular pieces. They must have a customer-centric and synchronized returns policy across all channels and use their data wisely to ensure they can connect returns to specific products, marketing initiatives and customer reviews. Doing anything less not only jeopardizes the seasonal sale, but risks a loss in revenue and lasting damage to brand reputation.

Recent research we commissioned with retail analyst firm IHL Group highlighted how retailers worldwide lose a staggering $1.75 Trillion annually due to the cost of overstocks, out-of-stocks and needless returns, clearly illustrating the price of not planning and remaining flexible when it comes to your retail strategy. For the majority of retailers, the combined impact of these three issues adds up to a total of 11.7% in lost revenue – an amount no retailer can afford to lose.

In order to properly arm themselves for the spike in sporting goods set to be sold, retailers should take into consideration the following:

• Predict what items are set to be popular: Ensure stock levels of these products are available across all stores necessary - ready to ship-to-store or ship-from-store to meet customer demand.
• Location, location, location: Assess regional areas in which tennis is more popular and make sure you have sufficient stock of popular items in this particular area. With an omni-channel order management system that unifies digital touch points with retail stores, retailers are able to treat every warehouse like a store and every store like a warehouse, to seamlessly shift inventory to meet demand.
• Keep timing in mind: In the next few days leading up to Wimbledon and throughout the event, sports paraphernalia will be booming in sales. Once the tennis season is over, are you going to be able to find yourselves overstocked in white polo shirts, sweat bands and sun visors? Do you know when to pause marketing efforts on fragmented stock? Or how many returns you’re getting and why? Having your marketing, merchandising, returns and even finance data connected through prescriptive analytics allows retailers to make faster decisions on their omni-channel data to ensure profitability before, during and after the big event.

Simply addressing inefficiencies and data disconnects throughout their business could mean retailers add the equivalent of $117 Million in revenue for every Billion in retails sales. Whether Murray soars through or Dimitrov pulls ahead, retailers will benefit from this approach as they get set to enter each fashion, holiday or sporting moment. Most importantly, retailers who have their enterprise-wide data connected and are ready to take action on the constant shifts in consumer buying behavior, market trends and regional variations are those that will be ready to serve aces during the approaching holiday season.

Connect with Sarah Engel on Twitter @edisrupt