The most useful merchandising tool: Having the right mix of product on the sales floor is critical to a retailer's success. Not only do you need enough merchandise to support sales growth, but it is just as critical to avoid overbuying which leads to poor cash flow, high markdowns, diminished margins, and a spiraling cycle of off-price promotions that only trains customers to wait for a better price. The only truly effective tool for increasing sales, improving margins and maximizing cash flow in an Open to Buy. An OTB must be useable to be useful: While it is universally recognized that a well-managed Open to Buy is the most important tool for retailers, an alarming number of retailers don't use one! All too often, retailers are deterred from establishing and managing proper Open to Buy controls because of the complexity of making the necessary calculations and allocations. The Merchant Plus! Open to Buy tool is designed to greatly simplify the planning process so the retailer can focus their time and attention to interpreting the results and optimizing merchandise flow. Automated Planning Tools: Multiple planning methods are provided to allow for the quick implementation of a planning system and easy adjustments to existing plans. Plans can be automatically generated based on historical performance, and more importantly, easy to understand metrics can be used to adjust plans to assure improvement over past performance. For example, inventory can be planned to meet a desired turn rate or stock to sales ratios. Markdown planning interactively forecasts planned margins, or planned margins can create markdown plans. Flexibility: While detailed plans can roll up to summary reporting levels, the automatic allocation tools allow you to develop plans from the top down. For example, management might develop a company or department level plan and then allow individual buyers to develop more detailed plans, again using either top-down or bottom-up planning tools. These plans can be developed cooperatively within the same plan or by cloning and reconsolidating final plans. By supporting multiple plans, pre-season plans can be stored and later compared to plans that are adjusted throughout the season to help imporove your early planning skills. | 