Assortment Planning

Assortment Planning is the process of translating your Category Plans into actual product assortments. 

It involves determining the unique products you want to offer in each category, as well as how many colors, prints or patterns to offer in each.  An important part of Assortment Planning is determining which products to carry forward in the line and where to introduce newness for your customer.  

Key Aspects of an Assortment Plan

• # of Carryover vs. New Products
• Range (# Colors / Prints / Patterns Offered)
• Pricing
• Product Lifecycle (Year Round / Seasonal Offering)

The output from the Assortment Planning process is a detailed line plan, which outlines all of the products and SKUs that are planned to be offered to the customer for a given time period.  It serves as a guide for design, development and sourcing.  It is also the critical component needed for establishing inventory order quantities and timing. We partner with your team to help drive this process.

A critical part of the assortment planning process is ensuring the assortment plan can deliver on the sales targets outlined in the category plan.  This is where a merchandise planning expert can help.  Combining historical performance data with an understanding of the company's growth strategies, we validate the assortment plan with numbers to ensure there is alignment between the assortment and the category financial targets.