Range Planning for the Season

Range Planning
Before the onset of a season – winter or summer an essential component of buying is preparing a range plan.. Whereas the overall budgetary planning as well as the buying strategy would already have been defined at the senior management level . The range plan would be a combination of the elements of buying strategy and budgetary plans.
Range Plan Structure
The first step in the process of making a range plan should be the structure wherein the following components would needed to be addressed

a) Range Profile
b) Range Width
c) Average Selling Price
d) Margin Mix
e) Sales Value ( in terms of value and quantity

Range Profile
The range profile should be based on the following
GBB price assortment. The good better and best principle . Depending on the profile of the retailer outlet , the GBB split would vary. For instance in the case of an up market retailer like Lifestyle , the GBB split would probably be in the ratio of 10:20:70 whereas in the case of Haryali Kisaan Bazaar the ration would be 60:30:10. It is important to remember that the GBB split is a price assortment.
Product Assortment ; This would be based on the consumer preferences of the retailer target consumer. Decisions that need to be taken by the buyer would be styles in the case of lifestyle, tastes in the case of food and features and needs in the case of home products
Customer Appeal : While developing the range plan, the buyer would also need to address customer appeal of the products in terms of socio economic , age, gender etc.



Will take up the other elements in following days

Management Champions

An interesting and very relevant writeup

Getting Senior Management on Board
by Randy Street

Here are some ways to get senior leaders to act as talent-management champions.

The biggest problems in business are not "what" problems, but "who" problems. "What" problems have to do with execution and tactics. These are important, but no business, no matter how well positioned, can succeed if it doesn't have the right people in the right roles doing the right things.

These are "who" problems.

Senior leaders want to create value for their businesses, and they want to have career and financial success. The No. 1 thing they can do to help both their companies and themselves is to solve their biggest people problems. Get the "who" right, and great things will happen.

Why should senior leaders act as talent-management champions? Here are the top five reasons:

1. "Who" mistakes are extremely costly.
One company we know hired five vice presidents of sales in the span of three years. The CEO believes his repeated hiring errors cost the company more than $100 million in top-line growth. Another company we know promoted the wrong person to lead their real-estate investment group. The gentlemen they put in charge promptly lost $80 million.

No matter how you slice it, people mistakes will cost your business. In fact, management guru Peter Drucker once estimated that 50 percent of all hiring decisions were mistakes. Half! To make matters worse, the average cost of a mis-hire is 15 times that person's base salary. Just think: Make a mistake on a single, $100,000-a-year employee and you will cost your business $1.5 million in opportunity costs, fire drills and wasted budget.

2. The "who" drives your business more than any other factor.
We conducted a survey of more than 80 successful business leaders, including more than 20 billionaires and 60 CEOs of companies ranging from entrepreneurial ventures to Global 100 companies. We asked them what drove the success of their businesses. They told us that management talent was more than half the equation (52 percent). Execution only drove 20 percent of success; strategy, 17 percent; and other factors, 11 percent. If it is important to them, we suspect it should be important to you.

3. The right "who" people are more productive.
Someone once asked George Buckley, CEO of 3M, how he felt about people.. He replied, "I want you to pause for a moment and think about the very best person you have working for you. Now I want you to think about the second-best person you have working for you. Now I would like you to think about where your organization would be without them.

"You would be terrified if you lost them. And you would love to have 10 more like them. That is how I feel about the importance of hiring the right people."

In fact, studies show that so-called "A players" are three-to-five times more productive than everybody else. Who wouldn't want to stack his or her team with people like this?

4. Enjoy your career more with the right "who."
Jack Welch used to say, "The hardest I ever worked was when I had the weakest team." We see this truth playing out all the time. Consider one COO we know who was completely burned out when we first met him. He was frustrated that the people who reported to him didn't seem to "get it."

It turned out, he was the one who didn't get it. After some coaching, he rebuilt his team and helped the CEO increase the stock price by more than 60 percent. Even better, when we asked how he was doing nine months later, he said, "You know what? I feel great! I have a fantastic team working with me now. For the first time in my career, I don't have to be the first person to arrive in the morning and the last one out at night. I'm sleeping better. I'm working out. I'm spending time with my wife. And it's all because I have a team of A players."

5. It's fun to have the right "who."
Let's face it. Who enjoys dealing with the problems and mistakes caused by weaker talent? We've evaluated and trained tens of thousands of executive and have never met an executive who enjoyed dealing with C players. Not a single one. But they universally love having A players on their team. We bet you do, too.

The single most important role of a senior leader is to ensure a team has the right "who" on board. That's what Pat Ryan, chairman and founder of Aon Insurance, believed. "I am not really smarter than the next guy," he told us. "There are lots of smart people in business. I guess the one thing that I have done over the years that is different from most people is that I am constantly on the hunt for talented people to bring into my company."

We hope you will do the same. As a result, you will have more career, financial, and personal success.

[About the Author: Randy Street is the co-author of the New York Times best-selling book Who: The A Method for Hiring. He is a partner with ghSMART, a leadership advisory firm specializing in management assessment, executive learning and coaching for CEOs and boards.]

Reail Ads - The Week that was

MOM & ME with its headline of ' One - of - a - kind store for moms and kids' is aggressively promoting its stores through large 3/4 page ads in the national dailies. Focus is on its range of national and international brands for the to be mom and kids. 'Mom & Me' stores have been introduced by Mahindra Retail and currently also have a presence in the towns of Ahmedabad, Pune, Mumbai and Ludhiana . In Delhi they are present at 2 locations. (HT-13/06)

RELIANCE DIGITAL has a half page ad celebrating its 2nd anniversary offering free gifts with all its products. Their headline ' You don't have to be lucky to win a prize' (HT-13/06 Half Page)

E ZONE of HomeTown has special discounts this week. Their headline 'Save more than just the price'. The offering - TVs, Fridges, Washing Machines, Laptops and Mobile phones. Savings from Rs 800 to Rs 9000. (HT-13/06 Half Page)

BIG BAZAAR has very aggressively launched it's 'Buy 1 Get 1 Free' campaign. The catch however is that the product offered free is not the same product that has been brought. Products offered range from food items to luggage, washing machines and wardrobes. The offer is open for a week - 13th to 21st June. ( TOI - 13/6 Full Page and HT-13/06 1/4 page)

HOME TOWN is offering a straight 40% discount on everything. They call it the ' Dream Home Week 6th -14th June'. ( HT-13/06)

CROMA has a 'Back to School' campaign on laptops and cameras. Does this campaign make sense ??? Would be interesting to know the impact of this ad. ( HT-13/06)

WESTSIDE has a 'Menswear Bonanza' this week and is offering Rs 200 off on men's formal wear. ( TOI - 13/6 Half Page)

This week has LIFESTYLE launching its 'Lifestyle Style Fest' and the offering is a Toyota car. The offering - a range of men's and women's wear ( TOI-13/06)

VISHAL MEGA MART has a full page ad with its ' Beat the heat' campaign. Aggressive pricing on a range of products ranging from food, apparel and consumer durables. ( TOI-13/06 Full Page)

Wal-Mart India lauches Cash and Carrry

'Best Price ' launched in Amritsar

Wal-Mart India finally launched its first Cash & Carry format named ‘BEST PRICE MODERN WHOLESALE ' in Amritsar on Saturday. In an interview on NDTV Profit, a bullish Raj Jain, President of Wal-Mart India outlined future plans and expects to open 10-15 such outlets in the next 3 years instead of the 7 years originally planned. The company had so far been focusing on the back end and is now ready to look at the front end.

The 'Best Price' outlet carries an assortment of over 6000 SKU's displayed over 50,000 sq ft. The store carries basic commodities, food and FMCG products to electronics and shoppers can shop and choose in air conditioned comfort. These products are sourced from over 750 suppliers consisting of MNC corporations, large manufacturers as well as numerous small manufacturers who were assisted by the company to come up to international levels. The company has also started sourcing directly from farmers to an extent of 15-20%.

The company has already registered 30,000 members who can shop at the outlet. Only authorised retailers and Kirana stores with a valid registration can register to become members and buy in bulk at attractive prices that the outlet offers. It is not open to retail customers Only bonafide businesses can become members. The company has also enrolled 70,000 secondary members - add on to the primary members.

Mr Raj Jain emphasised that retailing is a marathon race and there is a big opportunity in retail. He also talked of the importance of a robust back end for a successful retail operation. In the case of Wal-mart India, it has taken over 18 months to put the back end in place.
The company , along with the Government of Punjab has started a training institute for Retail where scholarships are also offered. 600 students have already graduated from this institute of which 60 have been employed by the company.

The next 3 years will see similar stores coming up in Punjab, Haryana, Delhi and Uttar Pradesh. Lots of action on the Cash and Carry front to watch !!

Annual Budgets

Financial Budgets of any retail organisation are prepared at the beginning of a financial year and cover the full financial year. This financial budget defines the following for the coming year

• Sales Planned for the year
• Gross and Net Margins ( Profits)
• Stock Levels
• Costs (HR costs, travelling etc)

While planning the annual budget, several factors are taken into account , some of which are

• Market Growth
• Initiatives planned in merchandise
• Increase in outlets
• Planned growth in Like to Like store sales
• Planned increase in footfalls
• Marketing Activities
• Improvement in Supply Chain
• Private Label Initiatives

Once the annual budget is finalised and approved by the Top Management, it cannot be changed. What follows from the Annual Budget is the Buying Plan and the Range Plan. These plans are normally seasonal and prepared at the beginning of the season. The winter season in India starts from October and it is now time to prepare the Winter Range Plan. Will take this up in the next post.

Retail Ads - The Week that was

The most active retailer this week has again been Big Bazaar
Wednesday saw a half page ad ' WEDNESDAY BAZAAR - Hafte ka sabsa Sasta Din' . Special prices on food and clothing is the offering.
WESTSIDE has the 'Summer Shopping Blast' campaign till the end of May. Offers include Buy 2 get 1 free on girl's wear, special discounts on towels, tops and trousers, footwear and Luggage.
VISHAL Mega Mart - Ads in the Delhi Times with the headling ' Iss Garmi mein kuch Thanda hai to sirf Vishal ka Price ' ( if there is anything cool this summer, it is Vishal's price) Focus on food items and Buy 2 get 1 Free schemes
MARKS & SPENCERS - Mid Season sale on with upto 60% off. Ads in the Delhi Times
HOME TOWN - Flat 40% off on a wide range of kitchen items. Special kitchen week from 16th to 24th May. Half page ad in Delhi Times
E ZONE - Focus on price and energy saving . Mixed message of price, space, service, energy and time. Tries to break away from the regular advertising with the headline ' Save more than just the Price'. Ads in the Delhi Times
EVOK - Celebrates its first anniversary with 'Lowest Prices of the Year' Their products include furniture, modular kitchens, furnishings and decorative lighting. This is an initiative of Hindware.
BIG BAZAAR - 2 Campaigns . Weekend savers on electronics - AC for Rs 13990, Digital Cameras and DVD players with special prices for 2 days.
A focused campaign on steel almirahs - prices ranging from Rs 5199 to 13,999.
To reverse the trend of falling footfalls in malls, the DLF Grand Mall has initiated a flyer campaign highlighting the various brands and products available at the mall along with complementary parking.

Subhiksha Bailout

Subhiksha's Travails
Subhiksha is nowhere near resolving its financial problems and getting back into operation.
The Chennai based Subhikhsa with 1600 stores till last year has still not been able to put a bailout plan into place with it's 13 major creditors. Whereas the company had expected to put the corporate debt restructuring plan ( through its main lenders) by April of this year, lack of clarity on the exact financial position of the company has prevented this from happening.
The major lenders of Subhiksha include HSBC, ICICI Bank, ABN AMRO, HDFC Bank & Bank of Baroda. ICICI owns 25% of the company and Premji Investments own 10%.
Subhiksha's operations currently have come to total halt with most stores either having been taken over by the landlords or without any supplies. Most major suppliers like HUL and P&G and others have stopped supplies to the retailer.

Retail Ads - The week that was

Big Bazaar - Full Page Ad Campaign

Big Bazaar continues its advertising campaign into this week with large size full page ads in the national dailies in Delhi with focus on consumer durables and luggage

Focus is once again on the huge buying in appliances to give customers better prices. I wonder if this really convinces customers about the price ?? A comparison of prices of most products highlighted in the ad show that these are currently available in the market at similar prices . So what is the benefit to consumers ?

With summer holidays around, the focus on this ad is travel and travel goods. Goodies thrown in include a free travel bag and a chance to win a trip to Malaysia. Overall aggressive discounts should get the retailer good volumes.

Spencers Retail - 'Kool Mela' offer through newspaper inserts. Focus on food, appliances and the major brands available at their outlets.

'MORE' plans more

Aditya Birla Group to have 2200 stores

The Aditya Birla Group promoted 'More' chain of supermarkets and 'More Mega' hypermarkets has plans to have 2200 stores by 2015 There are currently 640 supermarket stores in operation which is expected to rise to 720 by end of 2010. The hypermarket count too will go up to 8 to 10 during this time.

The group had rapidly expanded to 710 since the last 3 years of operation but shut down 70 enviable stores recently. In 2006, the group had acquired 'Trinethra' with its 176 stores and is now present in 12 states and around 75 cities.

The group has also been aggressive on its private label policy and over 350 SKU's in food and home products. Some of the store's own brands are 'Kitchen's Promise' and 'Best of India' in food and contribute to 4 - 5 % of revenue.

The retail venture is expected to turn profitable in 5 to 6 years

Products for rural India

New Products for retailers in Rural India
Envirofit India Pvt Ltd has introduced a new fuel efficient stove in the Indian market. These stoves allow fuller combustion , use 65% less fuel and cut cooking time by half and are currently available in the Southern States of India – Tamil Nadu, Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh. Prices range from Rs 700 to Rs 2700. These stoves use biomass ( wood, crop waste and animal dung) as the fuel. Biomass being the traditional fuel for cooking in rural India makes these stoves a highly acceptable product to the rural female population . The aggressive pricing is a major plus. 50,000 pcs have already been sold in these states and the company plans to launch the stoves Pan India.
More information on these products and the company can be had at
http://www.envirofitcookstoves.org/
An excellent product for Indian rural retailers to market

This Weeks Promotions

The aggressive advertising campaign that Big Bazaar launched last week continues with double spread ads in national dailies. The message - ' LOWEST PRICES ON 1600 PRODUCTS ' . Pricing certainly seems aggressive - Pressure Cookers at Rs 499, TV's at Rs 4750 and discounts on a huge range of products.

Reliance too has launched their ' SABSE OFFER HOT, SHOPPING SABSE COOL' campaign in mainline dailies. TV ( 21" ) at Rs 4990.00 is their main offering.

Mauling of Malls

Glitzy and fashionable malls have been a highy visibile and inviting sight in India since the last 10 years . In the NCR area of Delhi, malls were being constructed at a hectic space where ever land was available. Gurgaon's famous MG Road , also known as Mall Road has 18 malls coming up of which 6 are already functional. However, with the downturn of the economy, there has been a reversal of fortunes of mall owners. Footfalls have fallen and the rush of customers of a year back is now missing.
Lack of demand for space has forced malls to drastically reduce rentals. Malls today are facing problems of empty spaces. Ambi Mall - the huge over 1 KM of shopping space mall has an occupancy of only 30 percent while the upmarket MGF Saket has a 40% occupancy.
Rentals in almost all malls across the country have come down by 10 -30 percent . In Noida, Great India Place has seen rentals down by 15 to 20 percent.
Major retailers are taking advantage of this fall in rentals and are renegotiating terms of lease with the developers. Many retailers are also now looking at a revenue sharing model with mall owners. The Economic Times has quoted Vikas Gupta, CEO and MD, Lacoste India - " Best practices are coming out now. Revenue share model, zoning, clarity on super carpet and nature of contracts with both sides being equal partners are now gaining popularity."
At this point, all major development in mall space has come to a halt. Of the 400 malls that were to be operational by this year, only 150 have come up. The rest have either halted work or deferred plans and the result is that over 25 million sq ft of retail space across cities is currently on hold under various stages of construction .
Retail in India and malls in particular are going through a tough learning phase. Hopefully, in time success stories will again be the flavour of the day.

Carrefour's search for Partners

Carrefour's Plans in India
According to news reports, Carrefour , the 2nd largest(by revenue) retailer in the world is holding discussions with other retailers in India namely , Reliance Retail, Spencers Retail and Aditya Birla Retail for possible alignments and partnerships. So far Carrefour has been talking to Future Group , India's largest retailer though no deal could mature in spite of months of negotiations. It is rumoured that the most likely partner for Carrefour in India would be Reliance Retail as discussions are in an advanced stage..
It is however also believed that Carrefour plans to open its first whole sale store by 2010 in the NCR areas irrespective of any local partner emerging.

This Weeks Promotions

Big Bazaar has decided to get aggessive this summer on durables. In a hardhitting full page ad in the Times of India, the focus is on huge buying - 3 lac DVD players, 77,000 Televisions, 70,000 Digital Cameras, 23,000 laptops with the headline talking of 33,000 ACs - the implication - huge quantity buying translates to drastic drop in consumer prices. The ad goes on to highlight some very competetive and aggressive prices of the offering - 21" TV at Rs 4790, 190 ltr Fridge at Rs 6990, 5.1 channel DVD player at Rs 1299.

Home Town has a 40% off on Living Room items. They call it the 'Living Room Week'

Big Bazaar has a 20 pe 20 offer too going - buy 20 items worth 1499 and get a gift hamper of 20 items ( items and price not mentioned)

Vishal Mega Mart has launched its " 1000 ki shopping karo, 1000 Muft Pao" . Excellent offer as this means a discount of 50%. Should get a good response unless there are riders attached.

Not to be left behind, Reliance Digital have launched the AC Chill bill on airconditioners. Offers range from a lucky draw of an A Star Car, refund on electricity bill and additional cash backs.

Hariyali Kisaan Bazaar has launched an aggressive promotional campaign consisting of 85 offers spread over merchandise categories of food, lifestyle ( apparel, footwear and home linen) and household. Two important offers are - 'Buy 2 get 3rd item free Offer' in the household category and 'Cash Voucher of Rs 40 on purchase of Rs 500'.

Trade Fairs

Visiting trade fairs on a regular basis should be a an essential part of functioning for anyone involved in buying and sourcing. Trade fairs enable a buyer to have access to a very large pool of manufacturer's and suppliers. They also give one an opportunity to do benchmarking exercises in terms of price, quality, designs, specs etc of the products that one carries or propose to carry in outlets. I am giving below a link to a site that gives information on all trade fairs around the world. Can be very useful to plan visits.

http://www.biztradeshows.com/

Store Negatives

A big store negative is having empty shelves. This is a sure way to turn customers back. The picture below is shouting out that there is no merchandise in this store. Remember, a customer that returns because of empty shelves will never come back. The pictures below are actual shots of a chain of stores.

Never mix product categories when planning displays and planograms. The display in the picture above is totally wrong. You cannot have sports goods , cleaning aids and plastic products on the same plinth. The only exception is when a mixture of products are being offered as a combo. These 2 pictures represent all that is wrong and should not be done.

The backend store where excess stocks are maintained is equally important. Goods should be properly stacked and labelled. On no condition should the backend store be maintained as the picture above shows.

The Pull of Rural Markets

"RURAL MARKET ATTRACTIVE FOR MANUFACTURERS: THE ASSOCIATED CHAMBERS OF COMMERCE AND INDUSTRY OF INDIA
The rural market is becoming increasingly attractive for manufacturers of consumer products and automobiles, as well as organised retail businesses, according to a report by the Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry of India. In the report titled ‘The Rise of Rural India’, Assocham said companies in the fast moving consumer goods (FMCG) sector have recorded higher growth in rural market, which has contributed substantially to their bottomlines. India’s FMCG industry is currently estimated at Rs2 lakh crore. Of this, domestic consumption accounts for Rs17,189 crore.
Traditionally, for the auto industry, the rural market has been largely restricted to tractors and two-wheelers, though the penetration of scooters and motorcycles in villages is only 10 per cent, as compared to 25 per cent in urban areas. he reasons for low penetration in the countryside: the high investment involved, poor conditions of rural roads, lack of finance facility and the shortage of service network.
The report said the growing liquidity in rural areas was on account of subsidies to farmers and increase in output of agri-products. Another potential area, Assocham said, was the rural retail market — currently estimated at $112 billion, or around 40 per cent of the $280-billion retail market. "
Source - The Hindu Business Line: April 12, 2009

Product Presentation - III

PACKAGING
In continuation of my earlier 2 posts on product presentation, packaging and its importance, I would like to add the following
Development of Packaging
Whereas, there would be a high proportion of merchandise which would come pre packaged, sizeable no of products would either need to be repackaged or require fresh packaging. In such cases, the buyer, once he decides on the product, will need to organise the design and development of the packaging. The importance of packaging cannot be overemphasised. At this stage the supplier too becomes involved as the packaging needs to be done by him.
The first stage in developing the packaging is to decide the kind of packaging that is required which could vary from
- cardboard boxes
- blister packs
- shrink wrap onto card
- polythene bag and header card
-sealed bags etc etc
The next stage is to decide on the matter that is to come on the packaging. Whereas the description etc of the product is a given, it is important that legal compliances such as
- MRP ( Maximum Retail Price inclusive of taxes)
- Qty/Wt
- Name and address of Manufacturer
- Customer Care No
- Epiry Date
and any other information which is a statutory requirement is clearly printed on the packaging.
It is important to note that the packaging of the product should be based on the method of presentation of the product that is decided by the buyer.

REMEMBER , A POORLY PACKAGED AND POORLY DISPLAYED PRODUCT WILL NEVER ACHIEVE IT'S TRUE SALES POTENTIAL.

Prospects for retail in Rural India

More news on the retail front in Rural India

RURAL INDIA PROMISES GROWTH FOR RETAIL
There may be a slowdown in urban retail, but `Bharat' is still shining for retailers. The next phase of growth is expected to come from rural markets with rural India accounting for almost half of the domestic retail market, which is valued over $300 billion. Rural India is set to witness an economic boom, with per capita income having grown by 50% over the last 10 years, mainly on account of rising commodity prices andimproved productivity. In rural markets, consumers are practical and price sensitive. Even though consumers at the bottom of the pyramid do not seem to have predictable income (which affects purchasing dynamics), the rural market proved to be surprisingly loyal. So if companies get it right they could really reap the rewards, experts added. This is particularly true as changes in the rural economy such as people moving from agriculture into manufacturing, which pays better, are likely to lead to a economic boom. In order to earn brand loyalty in the rural market, product design will need to go beyond ideas like smaller sizes (such as single use sachets) to create genuinely new products that appeal to this segment. Also, with most of the retail markets in cities getting saturated, rural markets offer a sea of opportunity for retailers. Retailers have devised different models to serve rural markets. For instance, ITC promoted `choupal sagar' has a hub-and-spoke model involving farmers. Other examples include Pantaloon Godrej's joint venture (Aadhar), Reliance Retail (Fresh & Fresh Plus), Hindustan Unilever (Shakti), DCM (Hariyali Kisaan Bazaar) and Mahindra & Mahindra (Shublabh).
Source : Times of India: April 08, 2009

The Buying Function - OTB

'OPEN TO BUY' - some very important and relevant points that all buyers and planners need to keep in mind.

For any retail organization , buying is an extremely critical function in merchandising. This process begins with the preparation of the buying plan called the ‘ OPEN TO BUY’ or OTB.

The importance of OTB cannot be overemphasized. Proper OTB planning prevents over-buying, eliminates confusion and consequently enables maximizing profits.

What exactly is OTB ? OTB refers to merchandise budgeted to be purchased during a particular season for which stocks have not as yet been ordered. OTB is a planning tool for any retailer.
An efficient OTB plan has the following elements

1. Forward Sales Planning : Sales plan for the full season or the year with monthly phasing needs to be prepared. This enables one to react to variations in sales plan, reschedule deliveries and cancel and alter purchase orders for the future deliveries as the case may be.
2. Forward Cover : This is based on the planned stock turns. For instance if the planned stock turns for the store is 6 times a year, then the ideal stock holding at any point of time should be equivalent to 2 months stock cover.
3. Opening Stock ; The value of the opening stock is a flow calculation. In OTB planning, the first entry is an estimate. From the 2nd month onwards , the closing stock of the previous month is the opening stock of the current month.
4. Stock Required : This is based on the forward cover planned. If the forward cover is 2 months and the current month is Month 1, then the stock required would be the sum of the forecasted sales on Month 2 and 3.
5. Intake Requirement : Difference between required stock and opening stocks.
6. On Order : Stocks already ordered and due for delivery during the period.
7. Open to Receive : Figure arrived by deducting the stock on order , if any, from the intake requirement. This figure indicates the OTB quantity.
8. Closing Stock : Arrived by taking the opening stock, subtract sales and add the on-order and open-to-receive quantities.

Advantages of an Open to Buy Plan
- Enables calculation of working capital requirement in advance
- Ensures right inventory level to support planned sales and to attain the best Gross Margin return on Inventory (GMROI)
- Enables fresh flow of merchandise at the desired times
- An efficient OTB provides the organization more opportunity for profit.