THE BUYING CYCLE
MERCHANDISING IN RETAIL ORGANIZATION
It is the internal planning that takes place within a retail
organization in order to ensure adequate amount of
merchandise are on hand to be sold at prices that the
consumers are willing to pay to ensure a profitable
operation.
Merchandising is planning, developing , and presenting
product lines(s) for identified target market(s) with
regard to pricing, assorting, styling and timing.
MERCHANDISING IN BUYING HOUSE
A set of activities involved in buying and selling, finding
customers, providing them what they want, when they
want it and what price they can give for that, and are
willing to pay that price.
MERCHANDISING IN EXPORTS HOUSE OR MANUFACTURING UNIT
The activities involved in coordinating and communication of
order information with Buyer's merchandiser, achieving right
product, at right price, ensuring on time delivery, at right place by
communicating all style related information & schedules with any
raw material supplier and the relevant departments at
manufacturer's end
THE BUYING CYCLE
• The fashion industry traditionally splits the year into
2 main seasons
Spring-Summer ( Feb to July ) and
Autumn-Winter (August to January).
• The competitive and constantly changing fashion
business requires a more frequent introduction to
merchandise, resulting in most stores introducing new
ranges many times in between these two main seasons.
The occurrence and the names of sub seasons vary from
company to company.
THE BUYING CYCLE
• The buying Cycle refers to the key events & the
processes in which the fashion buyer is involved in order
to buy a garment range for a retail or a mail order
company.
• The length of the buying cycle varies between company
to company usually takes a year between reviewing the
current season's sale and delivering into stores.
Season Duration
Spring Transition Mid Jan-End Feb
Spring Beg Feb – End March
Spring Promo Beg April – Mid April
Summer 1 Mid April – End May
Summer 2 Mid May – Mid July
Summer sale Mid July – Beg Aug
Autumn Transition Mid July – End Aug
Autumn Beg Aug – End Sept
Winter 1 Beg Oct -Mid Nov
Winter Festive/Holiday Mid Oct-Mid Nov
Winter 2 / Christmas Mid Nov-Beg Jan
Winter Sale Beg Jan - Mid Jan
Review of current season sale
CYCLE
THE BUYING
Budget planning
Comparative Shopping
Directional shopping
sourcing for product development
Range planning
Garment samples souring for range
Pre selection of garment sample
Price negotiation with supplier
Final range selection
Placing order for ranges
Pre production sampling and approvals
Bulk garment manufacturing
Delivery of products to retailer
Purchase by customer
Review of current season sale
REVIEW OF CURRENT SEASON'S
SALES AND BUDGET PLANNING
This review often takes the form of presentation to the
buying team and the design department team if the
company has one with samples of garments from the
range which was in stores last season and analyzed.
• QC department may contribute to the meeting by
commenting on any technical problems which may
explain low sales figure, for instance colour or fit in
production differing from the catalogue photograph of
the garment.
After sales review meeting Buyer is armed with knowledge of
which styles the customer currently likes and dislikes and a
framework of successes to build upon for the new season.
• So a rough idea of a new range plan can start to be pencilled in.
• They may also be learn from other buyer's sales figures, so if a
new fabric or colour has been trialled in another product area
the buyer can decide whether or not to run it too.
Analyze the reason of poor sales of any style.
• This whole exercise involves both buyers and retail merchandisers
• Merchandisers usually plan budgets in conjunction with buyers.
• Framework of the budget is largely based on the last season's
performance as well as any anticipated developments( category wise
also)
• The role of merchandiser in budget planning- a tentative range plan
will develop by planning the number of styles per retail selling
price.
SS09 SELLTHROUGH PERFORMANCE
MC FULL PRICE SALE END OF EOSS
INWARD SOLD ST INWARD SOLD ST
RIG Ladies Knits 39964 24068 60% 41680 34146 82%
RIG Ladies Blouses 41749 25043 60% 45072 37511 83%
RIG Ladies Bottoms 12041 5732 48% 13556 10359 76%
TOTAL 93754 54843 58% 100308 82016 82%
COMPARATIVE SHOPPING
Often referred as comp. shop
Undertaken at the beginning of each season and
continues with once a month visit
Buyers & Designers are involved
Starts with the looking at current merchandise in the
stores of competitors which sell comparable ranges
Report will be produced with few sketches &
information grid
Analysis of missing important trends in own range
DIRECTIONAL SHOPPING
Term used for trips to gain inspiration for design
concepts Trips depend upon the buyer’s product range &
travel budget Buyer may visit designer RTW ranges to
mass market ranges Makes note on key shapes, details,
colors and fabric for reference
PRE SELECTION
Time after the Range planning stage at the Buyers’ end
can be in form of the Line review/Range review meeting.
•Garments samples featuring on the Range plan are
presented. Participants are the Design, Marketing,
Merchandising and QC teams.
•Range is reviewed vis a vis: –Styling, Colors , Price and
Delivery –
Sourcing strategy regarding product and Supplier base.
PERIOD AFTER LINE/ RANGE REVIEW
FINALIZATION OF THE STYLES, SUPPLIERS, PRICES FOR
THE FINAL RANGE IT INVOLVES:
Informing suppliers regarding the styles which have
been included in the final Range.
Change in styles if any.
Price re-negotiations
Order Delivery dates re-negotiations.
Styles dropped.
Request for additional samples if required for the final
range review meeting by the buyer.
FINAL ORDER PLACEMENT
After the Final Range Selection meeting, orders are
placed with the suppliers in form of sending
Purchase orders /Purchase sheets for each individual
items selected to be on the range.
These may be generated by the Merchandising
department or by a separate Purchase department.
