Retail

Financial Merchandise Planning

With changing demographics and pressure on margins, well-designed practices for merchandise planning and analysis of results are critical to retail success. A differentiated assortment of goods that meets market demand ensures chains will be able to increase sales, protect profits, and satisfy customers.

Implement an intuitive merchandise planning and reporting environment

The IBM Cognos Financial Merchandise Planning Performance Blueprint uses IBM Cognos 8 Planning and IBM Cognos 8 BI to help finance and operations plan collaboratively to achieve a single set of financial goals and business objectives:

• Develop annual merchandise sales and gross profit plans for multiple divisions or channels.
• Establish targets for key financial considerations, such as returns and markdowns, based on corporate growth objectives.
• Develop department or category-level plans for key financial indicators including sales, returns, markdowns, promotions, shrink, cost of goods, gross margin, supply chain costs, and gross profit.
• Plan for the impact of markdowns and promotions on inventory value and margin.
• Conduct meaningful year-over-year comparisons and projections.
• Pro-rate costs to meet profitability requirements that support sales and margin targets.
• Measure and compare planned versus actual performance of merchandise by department, category, or channel.
• Analyze and report on sales by category, merchandisers, and vendors.
• Track profitable lines using scorecards and dashboards.

Learn more about the IBM Cognos Strategic Merchandise Planning Performance Blueprint. Download the following:

• Strategic Merchandise Planning Issue Paper
• Strategic Merchandise Planning Application Brief
• Strategic Merchandise Planning Demo

Additional Resources:

Retail Performance Management: Increase Visibility and Drive Profitable Growth

White Paper

Learn about the benefits of using Cognos performance management to gain deep business insight, improve decision-making, and succeed in the highly competitive retail marketplace.

Retail Perspectives: Maximize the Return on Customer

Article

Three perspectives on the retail industry. Learn how customer data drives more successful campaigns, why retailers need tighter integration with their supply chains, and how the IBM Cognos Financial Merchandise Planning Performance Blueprint can improve inventory planning.

Selecting the Right Retail Planning Solution

White Paper

This software selection guide provides some key factors to consider when evaluating enterprise planning solutions, and it makes the business case for Cognos as the best-in-class performance management system provider.

IBM Cognos Retail Store Development Planning Performance Blueprint

Online Demo

Learn how Cognos retail performance management solutions can help chains align corporate objectives with operating plans to operate more profitably and efficiently.

Retail Performance Management Podcast with JCB Partners

Podcast

An interview with Brad Smith of JCB partners. Includes a survey of current trends in the retail industry and how JCB and Cognos partner to provide a retail performance management solution to improve performance in merchandising, pricing, and other key areas and walks through a typical retail performance management engagement.

IBM Cognos Financial Merchandise Planning Blueprint: Align Merchandise Plans with Corporate Strategies, Customer Demands

Issue Paper

Learn how retail chains can meet sales objectives and profitability goals through a merchandise planning process that is synchronized with both finance and operations.

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