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BUYING CYCLES AND TOOLS OF

MERCHANDISING
Fashion Buying
Multifaceted job involving:
fashion forecasting
range planning
order sourcing
budgeting and
marketing.

Refers to key events and processes involved in developing
a garment range for a retail or mail ordering company.

Driven by a fixed calendar of trade fairs, fashion shows
and events etc.
Traditionally splits into two main seasons:

Spring/ Summer(Feb to Jul) and Autumn Winter (Aug to Jan).

Length of the cycle varies between the companies but usually takes a
year.

Season Order Confirmation Order Delivery

FALL December March
January April
February May

HOLIDAY
March June
April July
May August

SPRING
June September
July October
August November
SUMMER
September December
October January
November February


An example of the buying cycle for phase 1 Autumn/Winter10 range
Task Approximate date

Review of current seasons sales early August09

Budget planning mid- August09

Comparative shopping August September09

Directional shopping August October09

(Fabric sourcing) October09

Range planning October November09

Garment sourcing November09

Price negotiation with suppliers November December09

Final range selection mid December09

Placing orders for ranging December January

(Product development- samples, testing etc.) January April10

Bulk garment manufacture April July10

Delivery of products to retailer August10

IN STORES August October10

Buying Process
Buyer is always working on two seasons ranges simultaneously.

i.e. while planning a range for the autumn winter season, the buyer
simultaneously works on the garment fittings, fabric sample and
quality approval of the range for spring summer season.

CONSUMER BUYING BEHAVIOR

Refers to the buying behavior of final consumers -individuals &
households who buy goods and services for personal consumption.

Factors Influencing Consumer Behavior:
Cultural
Social
Personal
Psychological
Buyer


Review of current seasons sale:
The available sales figures reviewed by the buyer to know
garment's performance.

The merchandising department compiles a review of previous
seasons performance of the range to identify the best sellers and
the poor sellers.

The review is known as sales review or range direction meeting.

Budget Planning:
Planned by merchandiser.

Based largely on last seasons performance as well as any
anticipated developments.

Buyer needs to be far more informed than any other department.




Fast Fashion
A business strategy aimed to reduce processes in buying cycle and lead
time for getting new fashion products into stores in order to satisfy
consumer demand at its peak.

Aims at the more fashion conscious younger end of the market.

Buying cycle is usually much shorter than a year.

The response time has to be very quick.
The concept has become mainstay of the UK fashion industry.

The fashion retailers usually introduce new ranges to stores at least
once a month.

The bestsellers are retained while the phases are introduced frequently
to the stores.

Such ranges, also known as transitional help in filling the gap
between one season and next.

This makes the fashion buying environment extremely challenging as
the workload for two or three seasons overlaps, leaving no time to
pause in between new ranges.
Directional & Comparative Shopping
Directional Shopping - trips to gain inspiration for design concepts for
a new season.

Depending on the product type & the companys travel budget,
designers & buying teams visit major fashion cities.

Stores of most influential designers & retailers, usually in a higher
price bracket than the market they design for are visited.

They return with bought samples (notes, sketches & garments) for
inspiration.
Directional Shopping
London, Paris & New York are destinations popular with designers
for most product types & market levels.

Milan is often visited by lingerie designers.

Childrenswear designers may find more inspiration in Tokyo.

In London, designers usually aim for the major fashion departmental
stores like Harrods, Harvey Nichols & Selfridges.

In Paris, the main department stores which stock fashion designer wear
are Galeries Lafayette & Au Printemps.

A directional shopping trip to New York usually includes visits to
Macys, Bloomingdales & Henri Bendel in Manhattan.

In Milan, La Rinascente is the key department store which is visited.
Buying team visits stores stocking merchandise following different
trends.

Most stores visited stock designer ready-to-wear ranges.

They may also visit mass market stores which are aimed at a younger
market & or are more expensive than their own range.

Basically the buying team makes notes on shapes, details, colours &
fabrics for reference

After this entire exercise a picture can be formed of the key trends
which are coming through.
Buying teams are usually given a budget to buy garments during
directional shopping trips.

These are generally referred to as bought samples, which typify the
trends.
Comparative Shopping
Comparative Shopping is often referred to as Comp. Shop.

Usually undertaken several times each season by the buying/design
teams.

Involves observing the current merchandise in the stores of
competitors which sell comparable ranges (similar product types &
prices).

The aim of Comparative Shopping is not to copy competing retailers
products.
It is conducted to be aware of the choice of merchandise on offer to target
customer to ensure that the company offers consumer value for money & is
aware of developments.

Report - sketches & a grid with descriptions of products compared with
prices, fabrics & colours of similar merchandise from competing stores.

This report concludes by analysing how competitors ranges compare with
each other & noting any important trends or styles which are missing from
the companys range.
Range Planning & Selection
Range Planning is the stage when buyers define the detail of the range that is
to be offered to the customer in terms of styling, fabric, design details,
suppliers and prices.

Final Range Selection involves contacting suppliers, amendments to be
made, renegotiating prices and writing range plan

Initial orders are sent and New Line sheets are generated by buyers

Importance
To increase sales
To offer existing customers new products
To attract new customers
To offer choice and variety of product
To replace products which are not selling well
To build on the success of good selling products
To differentiate the range from the competition
To be in line with seasonal trends
To utilize new raw materials, new techniques, or new technology
Business Review
Understanding Cooperative Objectives or Mission

Understanding Corporate Identity

Defining current business position

SWOT analysis under the marketing headings product, price, place,
promotion

Defining desired position in terms of sales/profit growth

Importance of knowing the market/trade requirements relevant to your
product.
Planning Process
Market Research helps create concept boards

Collate the products

Reviewed into themes or ranges

List products in the relevant product group

Group the new product samples into the new colour themes/concepts.




Contd
Include details of the product to be adapted

List according to priority and demand.

Include no. of new products required

Determination of the no of collections to be developed

Identifying starting points for collections
Retained Products

Raw materials

Innovations

Products to be Adapted
Basic Stock List
Homogeneous

Heterogeneous

Seasonal

Non seasonal

Model Stock
Assortment of Staple goods

Assortment of Fashion goods

Classification
Price
Size
Material
Colour

Assortment of Seasonal goods

Quantity To Purchase
Period for which Purchasing is done

Estimated Sales for the Period

Merchandise on Hand and on Order

Desired Merchandise at the end of a Particular Period


Period for which Purchasing is done

Open to Buy [OTB]
Controls the Volume of Inventory

Hand to Mouth Buying
Too much price Fluctuations
Increase risk for Vendors
Increase risk of loss in sales

Speculative buying

Quantity discounts

Supply Conditions

Storage Facilities

Estimated Sales for the Period

Changing Business Conditions

Competition

Economic conditions

Unemployment

Fashion trends


Desired Merchandise at the end of a Particular
Period

Price fluctuations

Availability of Supply and Materials

Type of Retail Institutions

Availability of discounts

Stage in the Product Life Cycle
Factors Affecting Planning
Type of Retail institution

Past Sales Records

Determination of Consumer Wants

Type of goods offered

Elimination of Merchandise Lines

Retail Institutions
Availability of capital resources

Trading Area served

Nature of goods carried

Competition represented in the Trading Area
Types of goods offered
Fashion goods

Seasonal goods

Convenience goods

Shopping goods

Specialty goods
Elimination of Merchandise lines
Attention to stock turnover and rate of sales
Availability of substitutes (staples)
No improvement in sales
Little contribution to the sale of other products.



Significance
Firm Plan is established
Reduce the amount of work
Reduction in the cost
Creation an action plan
Desired Revenue
Managed Product Development

Time And Action Calendar
Introduction
Basis for all merchandising planning.

It is designed to control the key events needed to get the right apparel products,
in the right mix, at the right price to the right customer at the right time.

Also called as Merchandising calendar, Key events calendar or Critical path
calendar.
A planning tool.
It is the central mechanism from which all marketing schedules and all
merchandising and manufacturing plans evolve.

It is the clock that drives merchandising product development schedules,
manufacturing planning and shipping schedules.

It sets forth the starting and completion dates for all critical events necessary to
achieve a successful season.
The calendar includes information about the name of the buyer, season, style,
wash and quantity.

The calendar includes the target dates for each event such as pre production
garment approval, lab dip approval, pattern approvals and when graded sates of
pattern should be sent out.

The person who is responsible for an event must sign it off in the system when
the system has been completed so that everyone can monitor the status of the
line development.


Key Elements.
Line preview dates by season.

Line release dates by season.

Start ship date

End ship date

Weekly sales plan

Weekly shipping plans



It is the merchandisers deadline for having all prototypes and
pricing for a new product line completed.

Merchandisers work back from this date to create their product
development plans.

It is the date of seasonal sales meeting where the
merchandising team presents the line to the sales force.

Line Preview Date
Line Release Date
It is the merchandisers deadline for having all sales samples
ready for the sales team to begin presenting the new line to the
customers.

This deadline is crucial to the success of the sales effort, since
most sales representative schedule their earliest appointments
with their most important customers.
Weekly Sales Plan
It measures the effectiveness of a product line for the merchandising
department.

A graphic analysis of this plan can project increase or decrease in overall sales
for a season.

Weekly Shipping Plan
It shows season to date as well as shipping statistics for a specific week or
monthly time period.

It helps to determine whether or not the product mixes being delivered to
distribution meet the shippability.
Determination of Lead Time
CPM is used.

It is the key to a successful merchandising calendar.

It determines the critical functions necessary to perform an activity or
series of activities required to achieve an overall objective.

After the critical functions are selected, each one must be analysed to
determine the time required to accomplish it.

A typical merchandising calendar may have 25 to 50 functions for a
product line.
ACTIVITY LEAD TIME
BUYER RETAIL NEED STOCK ON 1st week FEB
IN WAREHOUSE OF IMPORTER OFFICE
IN NEW YORK 15th JAN
NEW YORK PORT 15th DEC
GOODS EXPORTED 15th NOV
PRE PRODUCTION SAMPLES 30th SEP
ORDER CONFIRMATION - Lead time for Prod
90 days lead Time 15th AUG
SALES MAN SAMPLES 15th July
(With Actual Fab / Trims )
FIT SAMPLE APPROVAL 30th June
FINALIZATION ON PRICE OF SAMPLES GIVEN BY BUYER 13th June
APPROVAL OF 2nd PROTOTYPE SAMPLE 20th April
APPROVAL OF 1st PROTOTYPE SAMPLE [ Style ref] 05th April
SAMPLE PACKAGE RECEIVE FROM BUYER 20th March
TIME 'n' ACTION CHART
BACKWARD PLANNING
ACTION DAYS PRIOR TO DELIVERY
COLOR
color satndards received from buyer 65 days
1st lab dip submit to buyer 60 days
comments from buyer 55 days
2nd lab dip submit to buyer 50 days
comments from buyer 45 days
TRIMS
care labels approved by 60 days
Buttons approved by 60 days
threads approved by 60 days
others 35 days
ALL TRIMS APPROVED BY 60 days
ALL TRIMS EX SUPPLIERS 40 days
ALL TRIMS IN FTY 30 days
SAMPLES
fit sample submit 65 days
fit sample approval 58 days
2nd fit sample submit 51 days
2nd fit sample approval 44 days
size set submit 33 days
size set approval 31 days
green seal sample submit 30 days
green seal sample approval 25 days
gold seal sample submit 10 days
gold seal sample approval 5 days
TESTING PROCESSES
prod fabric submitted for testing 65 days
test report available by 60days
prod garment submitted for testing 35 days
test report available by 30 days
PLANNED CUT DATE 30 days
PRODUCTION
fabric delivery local 35 days
fabric in fty imported
begin cutting 26 days
begin sewing 24 days
begin washing 15 days
begin packing 8 days
Final audit 4 days
EX FACTORY DATE 0 days
EX COUNTRY DATE
Critical Path Method
Critical Path
An activity is any discrete part or task of a project which takes resources
and time to complete.

Activities exhibit precedence relations.

Activities with their precedence relations form a project network.

The longest chain of activities considering task dependencies is called
critical path.

Significance of CPM
CPM is the key to successful merchandising calendar.

It determines the critical functions necessary to perform an activity or series
of activities required to achieve an overall objective.

When a critical activity is delayed it forces all subsequent tasks to be
delayed.


Determining Critical Path
The activities involved in development, execution and delivery need to
be analyzed.

Determine the time required to accomplish them.

Determine the critical path.

Critical functions are represented through
PERT Charts
Gantt Charts




PERT Charts

PERT is a method to analyze the involved tasks in completing
given project, and identifying time needed to complete the total
project.

PERT chart tell a manager
list of operations necessary to finish a project
time needed for each operation
critical activities activities that consume the largest part of project-
completion-time


Gantt Charts

A series of parallel horizontal graphs which show schedules for functions
plotted against time.


Product Development
S. NO Process Start Date Finish Date
1 Order Confirmation 25-3-2008
2 Ordering Bulk Fabric 25-3-2008
3 Receipt of Size Breakdown 27-3-2008
4 Order Sewing/Finishing Trims 27-3-2008
5 Fit submission 27-3-2008 17-4-2008
6 Fit Approval 24-4-2008
7 Wash submission 27-3-2008 23-4-2008
8 Wash Approval 30-4-2008
9 Receipt Sewing Trims 29-4-2008
10 YTS submission 24-4-2008 8-4-2008
11 YTS Approval 1-5-2008
12 GTS submission 1-5-2008 12-8-2008
Time and Action Calendar
S. NO Process Start Date Finish Date
13 GTS Approval 14-5-2008
14 Hand Over Production file to PPC 10-5-2008
15 Receipt of Head ends 05-5-2008
16 Shade Shrinkage Process 05-5-2008 08-5-2008
17 Taper Ready 09-5-2008
18 Patterns Ready 10-5-2008
19 Receipt of Bulk Fabric 12-5-2008
20 Size Set making 13-5-2008 15-5-2008
21 Size Set Review 15-5-2008 17-5-2008
22 Shade Band Approval 19-5-2008
23 PPM 19-5-2008
Jun 28,2008 Jul 08,2008
wash submission
Jul 01,2008 Jul 11,2008 3
10+
Jul 08,2008 Jul 18,2008
wash approval
Jul 11,2008 Jul 21,2008 3
10+
Jul 12,2008 Jul 22,2008
YTS submission
Jul 17,2008 Jul 27,2008 5
10+
Jul 22,2008 Aug 01,2008
YTS approval
Jul 27,2008 Aug 06,2008 5
10+
H/O Ss/prod file to ppc
Jul 28,2008 Aug 07,2008
GTS approval
Jul 31,2008 Aug 10,2008 3
10+
Aug 02,2008 Aug 04,2008
Taper ready
Aug 04,2008 Aug 06,2008 2
2+
Aug 04,2008 EVENT
Pattern ready
Aug 06,2008 Aug 06,2008 2
0+
Jun 28,2008 Aug 04,2008
receipt bulk fabric
Jun 28,2008 Aug 04,2008 0
37+ Aug 04,2008 Aug 06,2008
size set making
Aug 06,2008 Aug 08,2008 2
2+
Jun 28,2008 Jul 05,2008
fit submission
Jul 03,2008 Jul 10,2008 5
7+
Jun 28,2008 EVENT
order confirmation
Jun 28,2008 Jun 28,2008 0
0+
Jun 28,2008 Jul 01,2008
receipt of size brkdwn
Jul 06,2008 Jul 09,2008 8
3+
Jul 18,2008 Jul 28,2008
GTS submission
Jul 21,2008 Jul 31,2008 3
10+
Jun 28,2008 Aug 02,2008
receipt of head ends
Jun 30,2008 Aug 04,2008 2
35+
Jun 28,2008 EVENT
order bulk fabric
Jun 28,2008 Jun 28,2008 0
0+
Jul 01,2008 EVENT
order trims
Jul 09,2008 Jul 09,2008 8
0+
receipt of sewing trims
Aug 10,2008 Aug 11,2008
PPM
Aug 10,2008 Aug 11,2008 0
1+
Aug 06,2008 Aug 08,2008
size set review
Aug 08,2008 Aug 10,2008 2
2+ Aug 04,2008 Aug 10,2008
shade band approval
Aug 04,2008 Aug 10,2008 0
6+
Jul 05,2008 Jul 12,2008
fit approval
Jul 10,2008 Jul 17,2008 5
7+
Production & Delivery
S. No Process Start Date Finish Date
1 Bulk Cutting 21-5-2008
2 Sewing 23-5-2008 29-5-2008
3 Inspection 23-5-2008 29-5-2008
4 Washing 25-5-2008 31-5-2008
5 Finishing 27-5-2008 2-6-2008
6 Pressing 27-5-2008 2-6-2008
7 Final Checking 27-5-2008 2-6-2008
8 Packaging 27-5-2008 2-6-2008
9 Internal Quality Audit 05-6-2008
10 External Quality Audit 08-6-2008
11 Quantity delivered to internal Warehouse 08-6-2008
12 Goods Dispatched from warehouse to Buyer 08-6-2008
bulk cutting
Sewing
Inspection
Washing
Finishing
Pressing
Final Checking
Packaging
Internal QA
External QA
Warehouse
Dispatch
References
Careers in Fashion & Textiles-By Helen Goworek
Fashion Buying-By Helen Goworek
Fashion Marketing-By Tony Hines
Fast Fashion-By Liz Barnes
Apparel Merchandising-By J.A. Rosenau
Merchandise Buying-By M.S. Bohlinger
THANK YOU
Presented by
Abhilasha Hoon
Mansi Gupta
Reshma Rajendran
Shivali Dhiman
Surasree Paul
AMIT VII(2005-2009)

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