Merchandise Planning Audit

Merchandise Planning plays a pivotal role in ensuring the profitability of your company.

An audit of your current situation is an investment that will help you to maximise your profit potential.

During an audit we would normally report on the following issues, providing a comparison between existing process and industry best practice:

Strategy

• Do you have a defined business strategy of which the merchandise plan forms a logical component?
• How does your planning process fit in with the setting and maintenance of your company’s long and short term financial goals?

Current Process

• What is your current planning process?
• Are you planning at the right levels?

Organisation

• Do you have an effective and efficient planning and inventory organization?
• How do you divide the responsibilities of buyers and merchandisers?
• Do you have the right existing skill levels, organizational structure, working relationships and job responsibilities?
• Looking forward what are your training needs, systems requirements and data requirements?

Integration

• How well do your plans integrate with your operational systems?
• How do your processes interact with other strategic activity (for example with marketing, or product development)?

Technology

• Are your current planning platforms adequate to support the planning process?
• If not, would buying a third party system improve the situation, and if so which would be the most cost effective for your requirements?

If you would like to discuss an audit with us, please contact John Hobson