2. Importance of Historic Sales Patterns

Question 1

The importance of historic sales patterns (from fashion retailing)

Answer 1

Historic sales patterns of the best and the worst sellers from a previous season are usually summarised in a report format to show the “lessons learned”. A dull repeat of old formulas is not needed. A fashion business must not repeat historic buying failures, although a successful history is no guarantee of future success in the fickle, volatile world of fashion.

Question 2

Historic sales patterns: Bottom-up planning

Answer 2

Bottom-up planning is the analysis that begins with what was sold: how much, what kind, when and at what price. Projections are then made for the coming sales period and investment in merchandise is based on previous sales. Bottom-up planning is an everyday task of a merchandise manager.

This helps head office with its top-down planning.

Question 3

Interactive planning

Answer 3

The combination of top-down and bottom-up planning is called interactive planning. It is a teamwork approach with input from all the firm’s constituencies. It is time-consuming but the most accurate of merchandising plans.

Question 4

The effective fashion

Answer 4

The effective fashion buyer will analyse previous sales history to help plan the basic sales framework for daily, weekly, monthly and seasonal sales patterns. However, this requires quick thinking, reaction and experience to cope with all those sudden unplanned factors that tend to occur when they are least expected.