Brick & Mortar Metrics’ Merchandise Planning Services

What Tools Do You Use to Manage the Future of Your Business?

What tools are you using for merchandise planning? An effective retail merchandise plan is a basic yet comprehensive retail dollar planning process designed to help the client accomplish three important goals:

• It provides control by budgeting merchandise expenditures, establishes goals, compares planned and actual performances and identifies corrective action.
• The service helps manage your monthly goals by forecasting your inventory investment needs month to month, to make sure you have adequate stock in relationship to planned sales.
• By incorporating operating expenses into the process, our planning service provides a definitive forecast for net profitability and net cash flow for the coming year.

The process is really very simple.  First, the merchandise classification structure is closely examined with the client so that the proper divisions for the best buying decisions are created.

After finalizing the classification structure, we then accumulate as much information as possible, preferably by product classification and department. It is helpful to have at least twelve months of historical sales, markdowns, receivings, and inventory balances to combine with our data factors. However, we can accurately plan a new store even when starting with minimal history.

After the initial factors are established (classes, stock to sales ratios, percentages, etc.), we only need current classification data for each store every month to accurately plan the following ten months. We continually monitor each month’s performance to revise the merchandise plan. By planning at the classification level, we can ensure that each store’s overall plan is the most profitable. All calculations are made using proven factors along with actual performance figures, therefore consistently projecting proper future inventory levels.

Our analysts schedule monthly consultations, either in-store, by phone or via a secure on-line Internet conference. This provides an unbiased, objective viewpoint from outside the client’s organization. It also allows us to keep in tune with the client’s needs, and to regularly pass on valuable knowledge regarding the Retail Method of Inventory Management.