Why Brands Hire Boon: A Human-Led, Expert Approach to Inventory Planning
Why Boon? Because We’re Redefining What Inventory Planning Support Looks Like
Designing your dream workplace is something many founders fantasize about—but for Mary Wiegand, Boon’s founder, it wasn’t optional. After the birth of her second child in 2017, she faced a challenge many women know well: trying to meet the demands of a traditional 9-to-5 job while wanting (and needing) to be truly present for her family.
Leaving corporate retail was a risk. Starting her own demand planning and inventory management consultancy was an even bigger one. But Mary knew she wanted to build something different—something better.
Boon was never meant to be “just another consultancy.” From day one, Mary designed Boon to support two equally important missions:
Deliver industry-leading sales, demand planning, and inventory strategy to fast-growing brands, and
Create a human-first workplace where flexibility, family, and fulfillment are core values—not perks.
Today, that dual mission is still at the heart of everything we do.
In the early days of Boon LLC, Mary was a soloprenuer. She started with just a handful of clients - connections in the retail industry - and structured her work day around naptime and playtime with her children. She devoted time to both her clients and her growing family.
Not Your Average Inventory Planning Consultant
Most agencies hand over templates, reports, or high-level recommendations and call it a day. That’s not Boon.
Our approach is radically different:
We embed into your team like an extension—not an outsider.
We don’t just identify issues; we fix the process, build the tools, and create repeatable systems.
We proactively manage your demand planning, inventory forecasting, OTB, and KPI reporting so your team can focus on running and scaling the business.
We tailor our work to your exact assortment, growth stage, and operational structure—never a one-size-fits-all solution.
Every client is matched with a Boon consultant based on expertise, brand category experience, and availability. Directors oversee every engagement to ensure strategy, execution, and long-term planning are aligned.
So with our team you don’t get “one planner”—you get the collective brainpower of our entire team. And that’s one of the biggest reasons brands hire Boon.
How Boon Started—and Why Our Roots Still Shape the Way We Serve Clients
In the early days, Mary ran Boon as a one-woman show, helping a handful of clients during naptime and late at night. Her clients loved her work and referred her again and again. Soon, demand grew beyond what she could support alone—so Boon grew, too.
But Mary was intentional about how she built the business.
She hired women and parents who had once been pushed out of traditional corporate structures—not because they lacked ability, but because corporate environments lacked flexibility. She created a workplace where talented, highly experienced retail planners could thrive professionally and personally.
Today, Boon is a team of 17 consultants—15 women and 2 men—working remotely across 6 states and 2 countries, in four time zones. Together, they bring a combined 150+ years of retail planning experience across fashion, beauty, accessories, CPG, omni-channel retail, and more.
We are:
A baker
A photographer
A group fitness instructor
A podcaster
A vacation rental owner
A pilot
A college admissions specialist
Moms to 38 kids (including three sets of twins)
…and seasoned inventory and sales planners who choose flexibility without compromising excellence.
This diversity of expertise and life experience is one of Boon’s greatest strengths—it shapes how we solve problems and support the retailers who depend on us.
Her clients were so satisfied with the results they experienced they frequently recommended Boon to colleagues in the retail industry. Shortly after Boon’s founding in 2017, Mary needed to add more members to the Boon team.
A Workplace That Works for Our Team—And That Makes Us Better for Clients
At Boon, we practice what we preach. We don’t believe in:
rigid 9-to-5 schedules
unnecessary meetings
daily commutes
burnout disguised as productivity
Instead, we trust our team as professionals. People work when they work best—early mornings, late evenings, during school hours, or in carefully curated pockets between real life.
This flexibility creates:
Happier, more engaged planners
Extremely low turnover
Deep client relationships
High-quality work driven by focus, not exhaustion
Boon was built on the belief that people do their best work when they have the freedom to be their whole selves. And our clients feel the difference—every day.
Allie Dahlseng and Michelle Stitch were the first two members of the Boon team. Similar to Mary, both had doubts about striking a balance between professional lives and motherhood. The business structure of Boon allowed them to create just the right work/life coexistence. Almost 6 years later, they’re still part of team Boon!
In Their Words: Stories from the Boon Team
From Boon consultant Huda Shaikh
I started my retail planning career 16 years ago working at several large retailers including Macys & Victoria's Secret. In 2018, I decided to take a break from my career and pursue motherhood full time. Although I love being a full-time caregiver to my two sons, I truly missed working -- analyzing data, managing inventory, and contributing to business solutions. I wanted to return to the workforce as my children were becoming more independent, but I still wasn’t ready to commit to 40+ hour work weeks in addition to long commutes. I knew I needed to find a job where I could balance home life and work easily. It seemed almost impossible. Enter Boon! I was fortunate to reconnect with Mary, who I worked with in the past, and she told me about her company, Boon. It’s a company founded and run by moms who I can relate to and who understand my lifestyle. They pride themselves in creating a team who prioritizes flexibility to allow moms to better achieve a work life balance. Boon was exactly what I had been looking for. I am able to do what I enjoy, while working remotely and choosing the hours that work best for my schedule. I am so excited to be a part of this team!
From Boon Senior Consultant, Katie Bruns
“It has been absolutely refreshing stepping away from corporate life and into Boon! The Boon business model is simply amazing. I’m able to provide services for our clients while still feeling present in family life and watching my boys grow. The amount of stress that working for Boon has lifted from my shoulders is immeasurable!”
Our culture is centered around collaboration, innovation, and a non-hierarchical approach. We believe in celebrating community and lifting up new leaders, ensuring that both our clients and our team members feel supported and valued. This diversity of professional and personal experience enriches our approach, allowing us to offer unique perspectives and solutions—especially to clients who struggle to balance their own work and personal lives.
Why Growing Brands Choose Boon for Inventory Planning Support
1. You Get a Full Team of Experts—Not One Overwhelmed Planner
Most internal planners approach problems from a single viewpoint. Boon clients get:
diverse perspectives
deep cross-category experience
layered expertise in forecasting, OTB, assortment planning, KPI reporting, and more
With 200+ cumulative years of retail planning knowledge, our team brings insights no single hire—at any salary—can match.
2. We Combine Human Expertise with Smart Technology
Software is powerful, but it’s not magic. Demand planning tools are only as good as the data entered—and the expert interpreting it.
AI can't:
identify nuances in customer behavior
understand brand DNA
contextualize anomalies
build assortment strategy
evaluate risk tolerance
make instinctive decisions formed from decades of retail experience
We use technology to enhance our work—not replace it.
This is human-led planning at its best.
3. We Flex With Your Business
The beauty of fractional inventory planning is simple:
You get exactly what you need—no more, no less.
Need weekly reforecasting? Done.
Need seasonal planning only? Easy.
Need interim coverage during turnover or maternity leave? We’re on it.
Need a total process overhaul? We’ve done hundreds.
Support scales as your business does.
4. We Care About Our Clients—and It Shows
Boon was built on relationships. We become true partners to the brands we support. Clients regularly tell us:
“We don’t know what we’d do without Boon.”
And they mean it. Because we show up with the same dedication, ownership mindset, and care as internal team members—without the overhead.
The Bottom Line: Partnering with Boon Feels Different…Because It Is Different
We’re a women-led, data-obsessed, human-centered team with a shared mission:
To help product-based brands scale profitably through expert inventory and demand planning—without burning out the people behind the business.
If you're looking for a partner who:
Brings deep industry expertise
Works collaboratively with your team
Builds customized tools and processes
Improves profitability and cash flow
Supports your long-term vision
AND genuinely cares about people…
You’ve found us.
👉 Let’s elevate your inventory planning and take your business to the next level—together. Book a call.
