How catalogers merchandise a once-in-a-lifetime product

“[Merchandise] buyers worry about product and supply early in the year. Many of us thought they might be out by Dec. 10 if not earlier,” she says.

As Fraser explains, “The tight schedule of buying hard goods doesn’t allow for early commitments.” Though technically a “hard good,” she suggests the product be approached in a similar way to fashion apparel. Some fashion houses test the strength of an item early: “They use early exposure to project [demand]. In this case, you had to be in partnership with a vendor to be able to act later upon early success,” explains Fraser.