Revnce vs a spreadsheet
Keep the spreadsheet if you have a handful of styles, one supplier, and time to update it every week. Move to Revnce when the sheet can't keep up: landed cost changes with every PO, sizes need different buy depths, and nobody has the evenings to rebuild it after every drop.
What most apparel brands actually use today · Last reviewed
Where a spreadsheet is better
It is free, it is yours, and it does exactly what you told it to. For a brand with twelve SKUs and one supplier, a well-built sheet genuinely is the right answer. No software will model your business as precisely as you can.
Where it leaves you
It is only as current as the last evening you spent updating it. Landed cost gets entered once and never revisited when freight moves; ad spend is pasted in monthly if at all; and nobody rebuilds the size curve after a drop. The number is right the day you build it and drifts every day after.
Choose a spreadsheet if
- You have fewer than about twenty active styles and one or two suppliers
- Someone enjoys maintaining it, and actually does it every week
- Your landed cost rarely changes
- You want total control over every formula
Choose Revnce if
- The sheet is out of date more often than it's right
- Freight, duty and supplier quotes change between POs
- You reorder core styles by size several times a season
- The person who built it is busy running the brand
Side by side
| a spreadsheet | Revnce | |
|---|---|---|
| True margin per SKU and size variant | Only if you maintain it by hand | ✓Per size variant |
| Stockouts by size caught before the reorder | Manual, and stale once built | ✓ |
| Size sell-through intelligence | Possible, rarely kept current | ✓Clothing brands only |
| Ad spend connected to margin | Export, paste, reconcile | ✓Connected by default |
| Weekly plain-English action plan | You are the action plan | ✓ |
| Does the work for you | You do all of it | ✓Done for you |
| Who it was built for | Whoever built it, until they leave | Clothing founders |
The differences, explained
Keeping cost current
a spreadsheet: Landed cost is typed in once, usually from the first PO, and updated when someone remembers.
Revnce: Every PO, invoice, freight and duty bill is parsed and posted, so cost is versioned and current.
Margin by size
a spreadsheet: Possible, but every return rate, discount and ad cost has to be exported, pasted and reconciled by hand.
Revnce: Contribution per variant after landed cost, fees, fulfillment, returns and ad spend, refreshed from Shopify and Meta.
The reorder
a spreadsheet: Built from last month's units sold and judgment, then checked against MOQs by eye.
Revnce: Quantities by size within MOQs, case packs and lead times, checked against margin, with the PO drafted.
Track record
a spreadsheet: Rarely kept. Last season's decisions live in someone's memory.
Revnce: Every recommendation is logged with what you decided, and checked against what sold.
Using a spreadsheet and Revnce together
You don't have to throw the sheet away. Plenty of brands keep their own sheet for range and taste decisions and let Revnce handle the numbers-heavy part: landed cost, margin by size and reorder depth.
Getting started with Revnce
- 01
Connect Shopify, and Meta Ads if you run them.
- 02
Upload your last few purchase orders, supplier invoices and freight bills.
- 03
Get your Size & Margin Audit within 10 business days: margin by size, dead stock in dollars, and a rewrite of your next buy.
Questions about Revnce and a spreadsheet
Is a spreadsheet good enough for inventory planning?
For a small catalog with stable costs, yes. It breaks down when landed cost changes between POs, sizes need different depths, and the sheet has to be rebuilt after every drop.
What do I need to move off a spreadsheet?
Connect Shopify, and Meta if you run ads, and upload your recent purchase orders, invoices and freight bills. Your sheet is still useful as a reference during the audit.
Why would Revnce's margin differ from my spreadsheet's?
Usually because the sheet uses an old landed cost, or leaves out returns, discounts or ad spend. Revnce's figures trace back to the document or sync each cost came from, so you can see exactly where they differ.
Is Revnce more expensive than a spreadsheet?
Yes. A spreadsheet is free apart from your time. Revnce is a service: every brand starts with a Size & Margin Audit, scoped to its catalog, which shows whether the time saved and margin recovered justify it.
Which one should you use?
If the job you need done is the one a spreadsheet is built for, use a spreadsheet. If you run a clothing brand and the question keeping you up is which size is quietly losing money on every sale, that is the question Revnce is built to answer.