Alberto Nel R. Mateo V                                                                                      

VERTSOL

Merchandise Planning Commentary

The 3 part series of article discusses about the important key points in creating a merchandising plan. On the first part, it concentrates on the market analysis, store positioning analysis and promotion planning. Market analysis concentrates on defining your intended customers, competitors, best location for your store and your projected competitors. Store positioning analysis identifies the things a retailer wants to sell, their vision and the customers they want to serve. The last point on the first part is the promotion planning. It concentrates on the actions, strategies and mediums that you will use in order to promote your product to your intended customers.

The second part concentrates on the sales and stock planning in which sales planning covers the analysis of the internal and external factors that might affect the product’s sales. The stock planning covers the estimation of stock levels, reductions and open to buy budget at a certain category.

The last part is about the things that are mostly taken for granted by the business people. These are sourcing, shoeline building, and assortment planning. Sourcing involves the determining of the right channel to buy your product. Shoeline building on the other hand is the selection of the right product for your store. The last is the assortment planning that involves creating choices for their customers.

All of these factors are to be considered when formulating and implementing a Merchandise Planning.