Romano Consulting Group’s merchandising efforts serve to maximize margins and sales efforts, and to minimize merchandise expenses such as inventory carrying costs and shrink.
Detailed analysis of sales and margin performance of products by price points for each category. It will show the mix of business in the opening, mid, and high price point and display the gross margin dollar contribution for each level.
Inventory is analyzed in terms of number of times it turns per year and gross margin return on investment. Each category is compared to similar benchmarks and to other categories that are part of the stock merchandise mix.
An analysis is completed outlining the effectiveness of the current stocking program by category. Sales and gross margin dollars are examined and compared against the same parameters for special order products.
Optimal inventory levels are estimated based on forecasted product sales, projected gross margin, and estimated turn rates. A “weeks of supply” analysis is prepared to illustrate the effectiveness of the current level of stocked inventory by category and how many weeks and dollars a product is undersupplies or oversupplied.
An OTB process is created to provide a structure for determining what is needed according to the merchandise strategy. It is a checkbook to protect overspending according the optimal inventory level set by category or product.
An obsolescence plan is created per category setting timeframes for removing unproductive merchandise within a planned timeframe.
A process is developed to track advertising effectiveness by event by setting up a system for measuring the appropriate inputs versus looking an increase/decrease in sales volume.
This process involves creating a “map” for sales associates to use to sell products that produce the highest gross margin dollars. Management is taught how to rank products by gross margin dollar and create incentive programs for sales associates to guide maximization behavior.
Calculators are available for managers to load cost data enabling an instantaneous creation of price lists and price tags for products.
