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If you would like to write for this, or any other Emerald publication, then please use our Emerald for Authors service information about how to choose which publication to write for and submission guidelines are available for all. Please visit www.emeraldinsight.com/authors for more information. About Emerald www.emeraldinsight.comEmerald is a global publisher linking research and practice to the benefit of society. The company manages a portfolio of more than 290 journals and over 2,350 books and book series volumes, as well as providing an extensive range of online products and additional customer resources and services.Emerald is both COUNTER 4 and TRANSFER compliant. The organization is a partner of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) and also works with Portico and the LOCKSS initiative for digital archive preservation.Abstract Retail success can be defined as achieving high gross margins and customer service levels (i.e. being in-stock) with as little inventory as possible. Forecast accuracy, process lead-time, offshore/local sourcing mix and up-front/replenishment buying mix can have a significant impact on success in connection with sourcing seasonal products with a fashion content. Forecast accuracy depends on the characteristics of the product and supply lead-time. Lead-times are traditionally long and buying decisions are often made seven to eight months prior to the start of the selling season. Forecast errors lead to some of the items being liquidated at clearance prices while others stockout and lead to lost sales. As a result retailers often resort to higher mark-up prices with fashion products. However, typical retail performance measures such as service level, lost sales, product substitute percentage, gross margin, gross margin return on inventory, sellthrough percentage and mark-down rate mask the source of the problems. In this paper, we discuss these performance measures and propose a new one. Additionally, case study analysis of a group of Finnish department stores is presented.The current issue and full text archive of this journal is available at

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