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Retail Buying Lingerie and Intimates Department
Kelsey Keithly
Project Overview Buying within the Retail Industry involves trend analysis, industry trade reports, financial analysis, market research, and achieving customer satisfaction. Through this project I was able to get firsthand experience into the metrics, analytics, and planning that encompasses the buying world.
Fall 2016 Department Trends: Trend analysis is crucial when planning a store’s inventory for the upcoming season. This enables a buyer to anticipate what their customers will be looking to purchase that season, and aim to successfully provide an inventory assortment that captures their customers needs. For the market research in my project I utilized the trend report database WGSN to do my trend forecasting.
Six Month Plan With sales data and metrics from the previous year, a buyer is able to calculate forecasted planned sales and return on inventory levels throughout the season. The buyer is also able to determine what trends or styles were successful and which ones were underperforming.
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Importance of Six Month Plan Provides knowledge of last years sales compared to the calculated plan for this year including monthly percent plan and stock to sales ratio. Give estimate of what percentage of total sales will be markdowns (reductions) in terms of the percentage and dollar amount. Breaks down the initial markup in relation to the retail and potential margin earnings Provides a projection of the potential sales broken down by month in both percentage, and dollar amount. Sell-thru can also be determined for each month through gross margin comparisons by each month, monthly planned sales, and markdowns for the season.
Sales by Classification Breaking down and understanding product, vendors, and the budget both actual and estimated are crucial for the role of a buyer in placing and purchasing products for their stores. Sales by classification is an initial way for a buyer to breakdown their products by vendor prior to placing a purchase order.
Product Development
Lingerie One Piece Lingerie Set: One Piece Bodice Color: Black Noir Style #: 277794 Fabric: Polyester Silhouette: Fitted Corset Cost: $35 Retail: $57.75
Design Product development is an important aspect of buying, although it is primarily encompassed by analytics, forecasting, and planning, this is a crucial process to understand. Developing a product takes skill and knowledge of both product and the customer needs, if done well it can be a huge profit and margin driver for the business unit. The product that I have developed for the Nordstrom brand is a one piece lingerie set, that is very similar to a corset. I feel as though my target customer would purchase this piece because one, they are for the most part very trend driven and this type of garment is very popular in the fashion industry at the moment. Secondly, this piece is very different than what is on the market right now, the design is a lot more simple and streamlined compared to some of the other not as wearable takes on this similar trend from other designers. This would be a great transition piece for my trend driven customers to try out the risquÊ trend for a reasonable price, through a trusted brand. Proceeds to Charity: 10% of each customer’s purchase throughout the month of October will go to the Susan G. Koman charity for their annual Walk For The Cure. This will help their cause that is dedicated to saving lives and ending breast cancer forever.