Retail IS Hard.
And it always has been. It's hard enough without systems and tools that can't keep up with the speed of today's AI.
You're not guessing wrong. You're flying with half the instruments.
Great instincts, real effort, and a report that only shows the past. We've all been burned by it.
We're not here to show you data. We're here to grow your sales.
The RetailLAB finds the opportunities, Michael turns them into a plan, and your team makes the call. Finding lost sales is just one way we get you there. Growth is the whole point.
A solution for every seat at the table.
Buyers & Planners
Replace spreadsheets with tools built for fashion merchandising: sizing, OTB, sell-through and reorders, all visual.
Founders & Management
One source of truth for visibility across the whole business, without waiting for a Monday report.
E-Commerce & Marketing
Turn product visibility into high-converting campaigns. Know what to push, what to hold, and what to retire.
“This is great intel! Thanks Michael!”
~ VP of Merchandise & Design
$100M+ DTC Women's Lifestyle Brand
“Michael is a rare find. He works like a true member of the team, not a typical consultant. He dug deep into our business, partnered with us on strategy, and didn't just deliver recommendations, he worked with us to actually achieve our goals.”
~ VP of Merchandise
$275M+ Women's Contemporary Fashion Brand
Brands Michael has driven results for.
Across 25 years as a merchant, consultant, and operator. All before The RetailLAB was The RetailLAB.
The whole business, on one page.
Stop stitching reports together at 11pm. The RetailLAB merges sell-through, sizing, margin and stock in a single visual workspace your buyers, planners, finance and founders can actually use.
- Built for fashion taxonomy out of the box
- Visual, image-first reporting
- Recommended actions, not just dashboards
Reorder Linen Suiting · expand Size 14 curve · markdown SS25 Knitwear
The results.
How fashion teams use The RetailLAB to grow faster than the industry average.
What a discount really costs.
Every markdown quietly raises the bar for how much you have to sell. These two tables show the break-even math most teams never run: how many more units, and how much more revenue, a promotion needs just to keep gross profit where it was. Find your margin row, read across to your discount, and see the real price of that promo before you take it.
Retail IS Hard
How to find and create the millions you've lost.
Fifteen chapters of real wins and real failures from 25 years in retail, and the framework behind every case study on this site. The lab runs on the same playbook the book teaches.
The Brand. The Business. The Buzz.
Every retail winner we've studied has the same fingerprint: three forces converging at once.
The Brand is credibility: the trust a vendor or product already carries with your customer before you say a word.
The Business is execution: the category strength, staff expertise, and infrastructure to actually capture the opportunity when it shows up.
The Buzz is momentum: the cultural moment, trend, or timing that creates urgency and makes “now” the moment to act.
Any one or two of these alone isn't enough. Two out of three still ends in markdowns. One that's faked ends in a disaster. But when all three align, opportunity stops being a bet and becomes a calculation. It is the difference between a slow seller and a feeding frenzy, between chasing a trend and riding one.
This is the lens we bring to every retailer we work with. At The RetailLAB, we don't just look at inventory. We test the Brand, the Business, and the Buzz behind it, spot which one is missing or weak, and help you decide when to bet big and when to hold back.
Where retail's hardest decisions get easy.
What's worse than losing a sale? Never knowing you lost it. The RetailLAB finds the lost sales hiding in plain sight, and helps you capture them. A one-hour walkthrough with Michael shows you how. No slides. Just your own data.
Book your walkthrough
Pick a time that works for you. A one-hour session with Michael Lewis. No slides, just your own product data on the platform.
Or send us a message if you prefer.
