Stop Guessing on Inventory for Ski Season or Bike Booms Forecast Demand with AI Built Just for Your Store
Imagine slashing overstock by 35% and never missing a sale during peak times again. We craft forecasting tools that fit your unique flow of cleats, kayaks, and everything in between.
Join 250+ businesses with pinpoint accurate stock predictions
The "Stock Chaos" Problem
Seasonal spikes like Black Friday leave you with empty racks, costing up to 20% in lost sales per the National Retail Federation
Trendy drops like viral running shoes sell out overnight, losing impulse buys
Overbuying winter apparel in mild El Niño years ties up cash in dead stock for months, inflating carrying costs by 25%
Local events like marathons spike demand, but generic tools miss the cue
Post-holiday returns flood in at 30% rates, skewing your sales data and complicating SKU-level forecasting
E-commerce flash sales via platforms like Amazon drain warehouse stock faster than brick-and-mortar stores can replenish via EDI
Our Tailored AI Forecasting Solution
With years building AI for retail pros, we've helped stores like yours turn chaotic stock into smooth operations.
Why Choose Us
Here's the thing: off-the-shelf forecasting apps treat every store the same, ignoring your sporting goods quirks—like how a heatwave kills snowboard sales or TikTok trends boost yoga mats. We build custom AI from scratch, trained on your sales history, weather patterns, and even local sports events. It's flexible, plugs into your POS and e-commerce setup, and evolves with your business. No more one-size-fits-all headaches. You're probably thinking, 'Finally, something built for me.' Let's make your inventory as reliable as a championship playbook.
What Makes Us Different:
Why This Perfect Fit Changes Everything
Zero Stockouts During Peak Demand
Zero Stockouts During Peak Demand: Picture this: Last summer, a bike shortage cost one store 15% in revenue amid Tour de France hype. Our custom model predicts surges from events and integrates with your ERP system, ensuring you have enough helmets and tires ready in 48 hours. Result? Customers walk out happy, not to competitors, boosting repeat purchases by 18%.
Unlock Cash Flow by Ditching Overstock
Unlock Cash Flow by Ditching Overstock: Let's be honest, nobody wants a warehouse full of unsold ski poles come spring. We factor in seasonal dips, weather APIs, and trends via your POS data, helping you reduce excess by up to 40% within one quarter. One client freed $50K last year—money they reinvested in hot new apparel lines, increasing turnover by 22%.
Trend-Savvy Predictions for Viral Hits
Trend-Savvy Predictions for Viral Hits: Social media can turn pickleball from niche to must-have overnight via TikTok trends. Our AI scans social signals, Google Trends, and your sales velocity to forecast demand accurately, so you're not caught flat-footed. Stores using it report 28% more sales on emerging gear without the guesswork, plus 15% lower markdowns.
What Clients Say
"Before AIQ, we overstocked camping gear every fall based on last year's data and ended up discounting half of it by winter, losing margins on 200+ SKUs. Their custom forecast nailed our demand last season by incorporating festival calendars—we saved $12K on excess inventory and actually had to reorder tents twice during a local music festival boom. It's like having a crystal ball for our omnichannel warehouse."
Sarah Jenkins
Operations Manager, Peak Adventures Outfitters (Multi-channel Outdoor Retailer)
"E-commerce sales for running shoes spiked 60% after a local marathon promotion on our Shopify site, but our old ERP couldn't keep up with the velocity. AIQ built us a forecasting tool that integrates directly with Shopify APIs and predicts these rushes using event data. No more lost sales during peak hours—our team says it's transformed how we plan cross-channel shipments, cutting fulfillment time by 2 days."
Mike Rivera
Inventory Lead, Trailblazer Sports (E-commerce Footwear Specialist)
"We run a chain of 15 bike shops, and unpredictable weather swings used to wreck our stocking plans, leading to 25% stockouts on wet-weather accessories. In just three months with their AI setup, we cut stockouts by 30% during rainy season by pulling in real-time data from our Square POS and local weather feeds. The best part? It makes decisions intuitive for our store managers across locations."
Lisa Chen
Owner, Cycle Works Retail (Regional Bike Chain with 15 Locations)
Simple 3-Step Process
Discovery Dive Into Your World
We chat about your store's rhythms—seasonal rushes, top sellers like golf clubs, and pain points like supplier delays. No cookie-cutter here; it's all about your workflow.
Custom AI Model Build
Our engineers craft a forecasting engine tuned to sporting goods trends, integrating your sales data, e-commerce logs, and external factors like event calendars. Expect prototypes in weeks, not months.
Seamless Rollout and Training
We deploy it into your systems with a unified dashboard. Your team gets hands-on training, plus ongoing tweaks to handle new trends like e-bike popularity. Watch accuracy climb to 90%+ right away.
Why We're Different
What's Included
Common Questions
How does your forecasting handle seasonal sports like skiing versus summer biking?
Great question—seasonality is huge in sporting goods. We train the AI on your specific cycles, like winter gear peaks around December or bike surges in spring. It pulls in external data too, such as weather forecasts or event calendars from sources like the NCAA schedule. For one client, this meant predicting a 40% uptick in snowboarding rentals after a cold snap, avoiding shortages. Unlike generic tools, ours is custom-built to your store's history, so forecasts get sharper with each season. We start with a deep dive into your past data to set it up right, ensuring it's flexible for your unique mix of in-store and online sales.
What if my store sells both physical and online—does it cover e-commerce trends?
Absolutely, e-commerce is a game-changer for sporting goods, with flash sales and viral products moving fast. Our system integrates directly with platforms like Shopify, capturing online behaviors alongside in-store data. It forecasts things like how a Instagram Reel on hiking boots might spike web orders. A retailer we worked with saw 25% better accuracy after we connected their channels—no more siloed guessing. We build it to handle returns too, which often hit e-com harder post-holidays. The result? Unified views that keep your whole operation in sync, saving hours on manual reconciliations.
How long does it take to see results from custom inventory forecasting?
You're probably thinking quick wins are key, and they are. Setup takes 4-6 weeks: week one for discovery, two for model building with your data, and the rest for testing and launch. From there, clients see immediate improvements—like one store reducing overstock by 20% in their first month. It's not instant magic, but because it's tailored, accuracy hits 85-95% fast, especially for predictable seasons. We include training so your team uses it confidently right away, and we monitor to tweak as needed. No long ramps like with off-the-shelf software.
Can this AI predict demand for niche items like climbing gear?
Niche products are tricky but exciting in sporting goods—think how rock climbing boomed lately. Our AI excels here by analyzing micro-trends from your sales, plus broader signals like gym openings or social buzz. For a client specializing in outdoor adventures, it forecasted a 35% rise in harness demand tied to a new local wall, preventing stockouts. We avoid generic averages; instead, it's custom to your catalog, factoring in low-volume items' volatility. Over time, as it learns your patterns, predictions get even more precise, helping you stock confidently without overcommitting cash.
What makes your solution different from free tools like Excel forecasts?
Excel is great for basics, but for a sporting goods store, it's like navigating a trail with a paper map—fine until trends shift. Our custom AI goes deeper, processing thousands of data points on seasonality, customer prefs, and externalities like economic dips affecting discretionary buys. It automates what takes hours manually, delivering 30%+ accuracy gains. A bike shop owner told us they ditched spreadsheets after our system caught a cycling trend early, boosting sales by $8K. Plus, it's owned by you—no subscriptions—and scales with growth, unlike static sheets that break under complexity.
How do you ensure the forecasts are secure for my store's data?
Security is non-negotiable, especially with customer sales data in retail. We build everything on secure, encrypted frameworks, compliant with standards like GDPR for e-com privacy. Your data never leaves your control—we process it in isolated environments and provide full ownership post-build. For one chain, this meant peace of mind during a busy holiday season, with no breaches while forecasting gift items like fitness trackers. We audit integrations regularly and offer SOC 2-level protections. It's all custom, so we tailor security to your setup, whether single store or multi-channel.
Ready to Get Started?
Book your free consultation and discover how we can transform your business with AI.