Buying Cycle

Lets us Recap before starting

further

Fashion Industry – Levels of merchandising

• Retail Organization Merchandising

• Buying House Merchandising• Export House Merchandising

Merchandising Definition which we understood

• Merchandising is the process of planning, buying and selling the merchandise for profit.

• Merchandising is planning, developing and presenting the line.

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 in Retail Organization

• Merchandising is planning , developing , and presenting product lines(s) for identified target market(s) with regard to pricing, assorting, styling and timing.

• Line Planning• Line Development• Line Presentation.

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.

• A definition true for both Retail Organization and Buying House

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

Sourcing Structure

Introduction Of

• Retail Merchandiser• Buying House Merchandiser• Exporter’s or Manufacturer’s

Merchandiser

Organizational Structures

Retail Organization

Buying House

Export House / Manufacturing Unit

“Buying Cycle” Let

us understand how a

merchandise comes into the stores

Buying Cycles

• The fashion industry traditionally splits the year into 2 main seasons : spring/summer ( Feb to July ) and autumn/winter (August to January) .

• But , the competitive and constantly changing fashion business has introduced a more frequent introduction of merchandise …i.e. introducing a new range every 3 months.

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.

Below Table lists the main events in buying cycle chronologically( Example of buying cycle

for a phase 1 autumn/winter range)

Review of Current season's sales early August

Budget Planning mid august

Comparative Shopping august to september

Directional Shopping august to october

Fabric Sourcing ( for samples) october to december

Range Planning october to novemberGarment Sourcing for range presentation november

Pre-selection early december

Price Negotiation with supplier november to december

Final Range Selection mid december

Placing orders for ranges december to januaryProduct development-sample fittings,fabric testing January to april

Bulk Garment Manufacture April to July

Delivery of products to retailer June to August

Purchase by Customer August to October

One more example……….AUTUMN / WINTER 08-09 CALENDER          

           Process HIT-1   HIT-2   HIT-3

           REVIEW EARLIER COLLECTION & SALES          STYLE & OPTION PLAN PER HIT(1,2,3)          IDENTIFICATION OF VENDORS FOR SAMPLING          CONCEPT STUDY          FREEZE KEY CONCEPTS(THEME&COLORS) by 10th Feb   1st April   1st MaySTYLE & DESIGN SHEETS 10th March   1st May   1st JuneVENDOR LISTING FOR SAMPLING PERIOD          

SAMPLING PERIOD 11th March-12th April  

2nd May-3rd June  

2nd June-3rd July

COSTING 12-Apr   3rd June   3rd July

PO issue by 20th April-10th May  

10th June-30th June  

10th July-30th July

SILVER SEALING SAMPLES BY 12th April   3rd June   3rd July

FABRIC ORDERS TO BE PLACED BY10th April-20th April  

1st June-10th June  

1st July-10th July

PRE PRODUCTION SAMPLE & FIT APPROVAL20th April-10th May  

10th June-20th June  

10th July-20th July

PRODUCTION PERIOD (Aprox.70 days)20th May-30th July  

1st July-5th Sept  

1st Aug-5th Oct

REVIEW MERCHANDISE PRODUCTION STATUS          

DELIVERY (VENDOR TO WAREHOUSE/GOODS INWARDED AT WAREHOUSE

1st Aug-10th Aug  

10th Sept-20th Sept  

10th Oct-20th Oct

LAUNCH OF RANGE IN STORE 20th Aug   30th Sept   1st Nov                      

NO. OF OPTIONS 200   56-60   56-60

1. Review of current season’s sales and budget

planning• Sales review or range direction

meeting• Let us see How it goes in a Retail

organization……….

RIG LADIES

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%

AW09 MCWISE PERFORMANCE (Wk 6-11)

*AW09: PT-wks 7 to 11; CT – wks 9 to 11

*AW08: PT- wks 9 to 13, CT- wks 11 to 13

MC

CENTRAL

QTY VALUE

AWS/ AW 08

AWS/AW 09 VARIANCE

AWS/AW 08

AWS/ AW 09 VARIANCE

RIG Ladies Knits 162 189 16% 0.68 1.04 53%

RIG Ladies Blouses 198 264 33% 1.16 1.96 69%

RIG Ladies Bottoms 53 156 197% 0.53 1.64 211%

TOTAL 413 609 47% 2.36 4.64 96%

MC

PANTALOON

QTY VALUE

AWS/ AW 08

AWS/AW 09 VARIANCE

AWS/AW 08

AWS/ AW 09 VARIANCE

RIG Ladies Knits 947 864 -9% 5.89 6.78 15%

RIG Ladies Blouses 763 945 24% 3.10 4.73 53%

RIG Ladies Bottoms 344 750 118% 3.29 7.63 132%

TOTAL 2055 2559 25% 12.29 19.15 56%

HIT 1 TOTAL

MC STOCK SOLD ST

RIG Ladies Knits 20412 4716 23%

RIG Ladies Blouses 25126 5020 20%

RIG Ladies Bottoms 10836 4302 40%

TOTAL 56374 14038 25%

AW 09: HIT 1 SELLTHROUGH

* PT – wks 6 to 11; CT – wks 8 to 11

AW 09: BUY VS SALES

*AW09: PT-wks 7 to 11; CT – wks 9 to 11

TOTAL

MC STOCK ACTUAL AWS SOLD NWC

RIG Ladies Knits 43499 1053 5291 36

RIG Ladies Blouses 49658 1208 5894 36

RIG Ladies Bottoms 20654 907 4441 18

TOTAL 113811 3168 15626 31

DEEP BUYS PERFORMANCE

MC STYLE NO ARTICLETOTAL STOCK

TOTAL SOLD

ACTUAL AWS

TARGET AWS

T-SHIRTS RT-595, 599/- Butterfly allover print empire line top 2100 198 96 80

T-SHIRTS RT-205, 699/- Burntout long open front top 7563 1494 344 288

T-SHIRTS RT-586, 499/- Single dyed cotton viscose tee 2341 810 142 89

BLOUSES RW-593, 699/- Ramie collar shirt with self fabric belt 2434 488 116 93

BLOUSES Core Tunic, 999/- Twill tunic with canvas belt 3559 1621 291 136

BOTTOMS RB-540, 899/- Slim ribstop cargo 2774 1087 212 106

BOTTOMS RB-800A, 1299/-Cargo with turnup option & canvas belt 2695 1425 248 103

BOTTOMS Core Cargo, 1099/- Poplin cargo with lace belt 1889 464 88 72

T-SHIRTS RT-601, 399/- Entry price point flock print tee 4930 656 111 188

BLOUSES RT-200, 499/- Tee with chest print & stud detailing 1790 131 25 68

BLOUSES RW-644, 399/- Entry price point dented dobby shirt 6089 401 111 232

BLOUSES RW-645, 799/- Shiffly long top with ruching at sides 4799 445 81 183

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 analysed.

• 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.

Review of current season’s sales and budget planning

• 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.

• This whole exercise is further gets the flavour of current trends, PESTEL influence and affected by Next season’s forecasting.

• 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.

Review of current season’s sales and budget planning

• Analyse 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.

Directional Shopping and Comparative

Shopping

Range Planning and Selection

Critical Paths for product development , production and delivery

The Stepping Stones in Critical Path

• Lab dips/strike off/deskloom approval

• Sample fabric approval• Trim approval• Fit sample approval• Other samples approval• Bulk fabric and trim approval• Bulk production starts• shipment

Retail Merchandising………Session

4