FORECASTING EFFECTIVELY - SELECT CONTENT 

Our online Merchandise Planning course is our most popular advanced course. Retail Buyers, Product Planning teams and Sales Directors love this course. Below is a sample of some of the topics we cover in the 7th week where our playbook focuses on effective forecasting and driving inventory productivity, especially in fashion businesses.

*This course is now offered by our partners over at Productlytics.

EFFECTIVE FORECASTING 

• Forecasting benefits

• Forecasting basics

• External factors affecting a forecast | Economic considerations | Environmental factors | Competitive forces

• Internal forecasting considerations 

• Avoid these forecasting pitfalls | Inc: 7 Tips for Improving Your Sales Forecasting 

• Monthly sales forecasting 

• The importance of comparing actual sales to plan

• Forecasting sales high | Forecasting sales low 

• Overcoming a forecasted sales shortfall

INVENTORY PRODUCTIVITY

• Daily flash sales

• The difference between gross sales and net sales

• Defining a sales trend  | Reading a trend line

• An introduction to sell-thru

• Sell-thru and productivity 

• Sales per square foot 

• A deeper look into sales per square foot 

• Redistributing inventory between stores

• Average inventory (AVG INV)

• Inventory turnover (TURN)

• Sell-thru and productivity

• Stock-to-sales ratio (STS)

• Weeks of supply (WOS

• Negotiating for a return to vendor (RTV)