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6 P's of Merchandise Planning

6 P's of Merchandise Planning

Take a poll on what Merchandise Planning is and does, and you’ll have your work cut out for you interpreting the responses.  I’ve seen and heard many descriptions, most falling short of the true power of Planning.

My mantra “Planning as it should be” is about unlocking that potential.

These 6 P’s explore the less obvious nuances of Merchandise Planning.

The End is the Beginning

The End is the Beginning

At this pivotal time, one of the most powerful factors influencing how the new financial year will start, is how this financial year is going to end.

The closing stock of one time period becomes the opening stock of the next.

This means that how we finish up FY19 is vitally important to how we start FY20;

and how we finish FY19 is directly linked to what we do right now.

(P)Review

(P)Review

Now that we’ve settled down to a panic since my last blog topic, we can start to consider what needs to happen before the end of this financial year.

Review is a good place to start – an assessment of past performance to gain insights and learnings. What I’ve observed is how many businesses do this step, tick the box and leave it there, without actively translating it into a Preview – an extrapolation of those insights, combined with direction, interpreted into a strategy.