Planning & Building the Range

  • Level: Entry
  • E-learning: 1.5 hour
  • Modules: 4
  • Quiz: Multiple choice
  • Certificate: Digital
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Course overview

Using our fictitious retailer and buying/planning team, you will gain a deep understanding of how buying and planning teams work together to financially plan and build a customer-focused, balanced range. This course takes you through the full, step-by-step process, from the fundamental reasons why we plan, to creating a merchandise financial plan, developing an option-based assortment framework, and ultimately building a product range that meets both financial goals and customer needs.

In this course, you will learn how to:
  • State how and why we create a pre-season merchandise plan
  • Describe how the merchandise financial plan is broken down
  • Create departmental sales plans
  • Recognise the six different assortment strategies and how these impact range breadth, width and depth
  • Explain why we group stores for planning purposes
  • Calculate the number of options to buy and the units to buy for each option
  • Construct a balanced, customer-focussed range

Modules in more detail

  1. Introduction to pre-season planning – how and why we plan.  What are the key performance indicators and how are they calculated?
  2. The Merchandise Financial Plan – what is it and why do retailers use it?  Step-by-step guide to creating your plan
  3. Developing the Assortment Framework – how to quantify the number of options and the number of units per option based on key factors
  4. Building the Range – how to turn the option framework into a product range plan

Who is this course for?

This course would benefit anyone in an entry or intermediate buying or merchandise planning role, particularly assistant/trainee levels new to this responsibility.

It would also benefit small retail business owners who want to improve their buying and planning skills or anybody wishing to refresh and validate their assortment planning skills and knowledge.

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