Do you conduct thorough Post Seasonal Reviews? If not, you are missing one of the most fundamental steps in the buying process and are most likely missing opportunities for growth in your sales and leaving your business extremely vulnerable to unnecessary markdowns.
What is a post seasonal review? It is a dissection and analysis of sales and profit figures to create an overall picture of a season’s performance. This however is not just a financial analysis, it is vital to review these figures combining an analysis of the merchandise, evaluating each style and category to determine why styles were successful and the real reason behind markdowns.
Having bought for and consulted to many of the major retail players in Australia and NZ, I have been conducting post seasonal reviews over the last 25 years now with many different sized companies. What I see is a tendency for businesses to repeat the same mistakes season after season. A good Post Seasonal Analysis can determine a business’s correct product range mix according to their customer segments. One of the hardest things in retail is to measure missed sales; through these reviews, I can indentify where the greatest opportunities for the business is and determine how to fix the problem areas in the range mix, creating option plans that provide you with a “shopping list” for stock according to the businesses opportunities and vulnerabilities. These reviews are essential to increase sales, decrease markdowns and improve profit for the following season.
Whether you own one store or are a multi site operator, if you are neglecting this fundamental step in the buying process you are playing Russian roulette with your business.
Post Seasonal Analysis Reviews need to be conducted between June and August 2011 before buying your Autumn/Winter 2012 season.
(**For those businesses that have already bought some of their season before the trade fairs, a post seasonal analysis can be conducted creating an option plan, working with what has already been bought and tailoring a shopping list for the remainder of the season).
If you would like to discuss how to make the most of your Autumn/Winter2012 season, contact me on info@sarahgale.com.au
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{ 3 comments… read them below or add one }
What program is the most suitable to run a small fashion business with a stock intake of $300,000 to analyse stock levels and best sellers, with staff needing to learn the program?
Many thanks for your thoughts,
Elizabeth.
Hi Sarah,
I would like to discuss the Post Seasonal Review
and find out more !
Kind Regards,
Michelle
02 93274377.
Hi Elizabeth
Firstly my sincere apologies for the delay in my reply, there was a temporary hitch in receiving these comments – all sorted now though.
I have worked with other businesses of similar size to yours. I devise a program and train staff in analysing stock levels and identifying and responding to poor and best sellers to increase sales and reduce markdowns.
I would love to discuss it further with you – it does make a huge difference to the success of a business.
If you could forward me your phone number or email me on sarah@sarahgale we could discuss further.
Kind regards
Sarah