RETAIL MERCHANDISING

PRESENTED BY: DHRUBAJYOTI GHOSH SUBHRAJIT GUHA PALLISHREE SAMAL ASHIS RAHUL SANTOSH KUMAR CHANDRA

RETAIL MERCHANDISING
MERCHANDISING Termed as the planning, buying and selling of merchandise Retailers often say, GOODS WELL BOUGHT ARE HALF SOLD. MERCHANDISE MANAGEMENT Termed as the analysis, planning, acquisition, handling and control of merchandise investment of retail operation

RETAIL MERCHANDISING
ANALYSIS Analysis is required because a retailer needs to understand the needs and wants of his target audience PLANNING It is necessary to plan since the merchandise to be sold in future must be bought in advance ACQUISITION Merchandise to be sold in retail store, needs to be procured from others either from distributors or manufacturers

RETAIL MERCHANDISING
HANDLING It is necessary to determine where merchandise is needed and ensure that the merchandise reaches the required stores at he right time and the right condition CONTROL As the function of retailing involves spending money for acquiring of products, it necessary to control the amount of money spent of buying

RETAIL MERCHANDISING
Process of merchandise management includes
developing of strategies to ensure that the right product
Is bought at the right price Is available at he right place

At the right time

In the right amount In order o satisfy the needs of the target customer

RETAIL MERCHANDISING
FACTORS AFFECTING THE MERCHANDISING FUNCTIONS

SIZE OF THE ORGANIZATION

MERCHANDISE TO BE CARRIED

MERCHANDISING FUNCTION

ORGANIZATION STRUCTURE

TYPE OF STORE

RETAIL MERCHANDISING
The size of the retail organization

Function of retailing varies depending on the size of retail business In case of a single store the owner or manager assisted by the sales person may perform he buying function As the single store grows in terms of business functional departmentalization may occur and number of persons involved in buying process may increase In case of a chain store, the buying process may be centralized or decentralized geographically depending on the organization

The buyer for a chain store may have a fair amount of say in buying price, as quantities are much larger than the single store
As chain store exists across regions and at times, across nations, buyer has to keep regional preferences in mind

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The type of store

The buying for a mail order catalogue or for direct marketing or for an e-mail venture would be completely different
Mail order buyer needs to plan well in advance, as the production of catalogues takes a long time Buyers for an e-mail venture need to have a clear understanding of the type of product that consumers would buy on the net Very often in direct marketing or in e-mail ventures, it is the uniqueness of the product or the competitive price, which makes the difference

RETAIL MERCHANDISING
The merchandize to be carried out

It largely determines the responsibilities of the retailer The buying for basic merchandise is different from that of fashion merchandise This is primarily because these products are always in demand Examples of basics : white shirts in clothing or items like pulses, oil etc. Fashion products are those that may sell very well in one season or year and may not be in demand in the next season Fads are products which have a smaller life cycle, and when sales are very high initially, the demand also dies down soon Merchandiser handling fashion products will need to spend more time in the market He will also need to be aware of the fashion forecasts and trends in international markets

RETAIL MERCHANDISING
The organization structure

The organization structure that the retail organization adopts, also affects the merchandising function Some organizations may demarcate the role of the buyer and the role of the merchandiser as separate functions While in smaller organization, one person may carry out all the duties

RETAIL MERCHANDISING
MERCHANDISE PLANNING Analysis is the starting point of merchandise planning The person who is to take buying decisions for retail organization, must be aware of the consumers needs and wants An understanding of the consumer buying process is necessary A clear understanding is also necessary as to what products are actually selling and where Information is obtained from the sales record Interaction with he sales staff also provides valuable insights as to what product is selling Surveys , magazines and trade publications also provide external source of information The information thus gathered needs to be analyzed The analysis forms the basis of sales forecast The first stage in merchandise planning is sales forecast

MERCHANDISE PLANNING
STAGE I : DEVELOPING SALES FORECAST
1. 2. 3.

Forecast may be made by the merchandiser , based on targets given by the top management Sales forecast is the first step in determining the inventory needs of the product or category Forecasts are typically developed to answer the following questions: How much of each product needs to be purchased? Should new products be added to the merchandise assortment? What price should be charged for the product? A sales forecast is usually made for a specific period of time, this may be weeks or a season or a year The person who is to make forecasts for the product group or category needs to be aware of The changes in tastes and attitudes of consumers The size of the target market And the changes in their spending pattern

1. 2. 3.

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STAGE II : DETERMINING THE MERCHANDISE REQUIREMENT Planning in merchandising is at two levels 1. The creation of the merchandise budget, and 2. The assortment plan There are two methods of developing the merchandise plan 1. Top down planning, and 2. Bottom up planning

In top down planning , top management works on the sales plan and passes it down to the merchandising team In bottom up planning , the individual department managers work on the estimated sales projections The are then added to arrive at the total sales figures

MERCHANDISE PLANNING
STAGE II : DETERMINING THE MERCHANDISE REQUIREMENT After the sales forecasting has been completed, the inventory levels need to be planned The merchandise budget is the first stage in the planning of merchandise It is a financial plan It indicates how much to invest in product inventories, stated in monetary terms

The merchandise budget usually comprises five parts: The sales plan: how much of each product needs to be sold department wise division wise or store wise The stock support plan, which tells us how much inventory or stock, is needed to achieve those sales The planned reductions, which may need to be made in case the product does not sell The planned purchase levels, ie., the quantity of each product that needs to be procured from he market The gross margins that the department, division or store contributes to the overall profitability of he company

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METHODS OF INVENTORY PLANNING

Any one of the four methods given below can be used for planning the inventory levels needed
The Basis Stock Method 2. The percentage variation Method 3. The Weekss Supply Method 4. The Stock/Sales Ratio Method
1.

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METHODS OF INVENTORY PLANNING

1. The Basic Stock Method

This method is used when the retailer believes that it is necessary to have a given level of inventory on hand at all times Basic stock is the minimum amount of inventory that needs to be maintained for a product, category or store, even during times of low sales

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Basic Stock = Average stock for the season average monthly sales for the season where Average monthly sales for the season = Total planned sales for the season Number of months in the season Average stock for the season = Total planed sales for the season Estimated Inventory Turnover Rate for the season Beginning of Month (BOM) stock = Planned Monthly Sales + Basic Stock

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Illustration : Using the basic stock method, calculate BOM inventory for the month of January, given the following information Planned sales for January : 30,000 Average monthly sales : 25,000 Average monthly inventory : 40,000 Basic stock = 40,000 25,000 = 15,000 BOM stock = 30,000 + 15,000 = 45,000

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2. The Percentage Variation Method

This method is used when the stock turnover rate is more than six times a year The basic premise is that this method of inventory planning levels should reflect the actual sales It is calculated as under :

BOM Stock = Avg stock for the season x [ 1 + (Planned Sales for the month / Avg monthly sales)]

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3. Stock to Sales Ratio Method

This method is very easy to use, but it requires the Retailer sales ratio. It involves the maintaining of the inventory levels at a specific ratio to the sales This ratio tells he retailer how much inventory is needed at the beginning of the month, to support the months estimated sales

Stock-Sales ratio = Value of Inventory / Actual sales Planned BOM inventory = Stock-Sales Ratio x Planned Sales

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Stock Turnover Rate An effective measure of the speed with which products or merchandise moves in and out of a retail store for a given period It is a measure of efficiency and is usually calculated for a period, of six months or a year It is calculated using the following formula

Planned Sales (for a period) ---------------------------------------------------- = Stock turnover Planned average Inventory (for the period) The stock turnover rate is a measure of efficiency Every department usually has its own stock turnover rate as different merchandise need different speeds of selling From the managements perspective, the stock turnover indicates the level of capital usage ie. Turning money into inventory, inventory into money and then repeating the process again

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