Improve retail assortment planning

One of the most important things for retailers is assortment planning, as one of the biggest challenges most retailers face is figuring out what products shoppers are going to buy, and the other biggest challenge is estimating the correct amount of inventory they will need.

These things may push them to sacrifice a large profit margin due to the occurrence of capital restriction in their surplus perpetual inventory, so they always need a plan to meet these challenges, and this is the assortment planning that helps them avoid losing sales opportunities, and in this article we will present You have all the details about the assistance planning.

What is Assortment Planning? 

Assortment planning is the strategy by which a group of products required in a particular region is selected during a period.

Assortment planning can be of great use during seasonal fluctuations, by which the right products during the season can be selected correctly and accurately.

During the selection of the products through the assortment planning, the focus is on the characteristics of the products themselves, in order to meet the needs of customers to the fullest extent.

And the following are the most important features of the products:

• Size.
• Brand.
• Color.
• Price.

Why is assortment planning important?

Assortment planning plays a big role in choosing the right inventory size, which greatly helps the retailers, thus avoiding any possible losses.

This type of layout also helps in optimizing product management selection as well as appropriately allocating shelving space, all of which effectively contribute to enhancing customer satisfaction.

Thus increasing the financial performance of the company by offering diversified products suitable to the needs and requirements of clients, so assortment planning is the best approach to improving and fulfilling clients’ needs.

Also, with retail channels unclear, this type of planning is more needed than ever. As it responds well to local preferences, enabling retailers to deliver the right products to shoppers at the right time.

Key factors to consider when developing an assortment plan

While developing an assortment planning strategy, there are a number of things to consider, so that retailers can reach the desired results, the most important of which are:

• Category Weight
• Brand identity
• Market trends
• Price range.

All of these factors together will provide useful information to retailers, especially since retailers cannot know the type and quantity of products that shoppers prefer on their own.

Therefore, these factors contribute to clarifying multiple data sources from different channels that enable them to accurately determine the type and quantity of products required.

How to build an assortment plan

If you want to have a proper assortment planning, there are a number of basic steps that you need to follow in order to make a plan that works for you, and here are those steps:

1. Research and analyze historical sales performance

The first step you need when designing an assessment planning is to analyze historical sales performance to update trends, in addition to researching and studying a number of elements, such as:

• Cost.
• Average selling price.
• Shelf life of the products.

With that information you will be able to start creating your own plan according to the information you have.

2. Store clustering

It is a process in which stores that are similar in characteristics are grouped together, in terms of location, sales volume, customer demographics and product features.

Through this step, you will be able to apply assessment planning to similar stores, and through this step, you will be able to meet the demand of customers in different regions.

3. Decide the breadth and depth of assortments

The third step you need is to determine the quantity of items that are sold in each group, in addition to determining the depth of the items in each category,

While achieving a kind of balance between quantity and depth in order to meet the requirements of the largest possible number of customers.

4. Create a visual merchandising plan

The penultimate step when designing assortment planning is to use visual merchandising, in which products are presented in the most attractive way.

Thus, motivating your customers to consume by highlighting the benefits of each product, and you can do this by relying on the information you have about each store you own.

5. Check back and then carry out the plan

The last step you need to be able to carry out your assessment planning is to check the previous steps closely to make sure everything is going correctly.

Also in that plan you will need to check that the plan is in line with your financial budget, and then you can apply the plan directly.

Assortment planning tools and software

Good assortment planning tools help provide comprehensive analytics that enable retailers to make informed decisions about the quantity and volume of products required, which will best meet customer needs.

Here are a number of key features that you should focus on when choosing the best assessment planning tools:

• Real-time analysis of competitors’ catalogs.
• Design comprehensive and dynamic pricing strategies.
• Having a simple yet effective interface that doesn’t need a lot of integration.
• The ability to analyze the product life cycle counts for making promotions and pricing those products.
• Providing specialized dashboards as well as charts for measurements and parameters, if any.

With the assistance planning tools combined with these features, you will be able to automate your planning process and thus generate new sales very quickly.

These tools will also contribute effectively and efficiently in determining the amount of inventory that your customers expect from you.

As well as making the appropriate adjustments in the event of any urgent changes to the market or from your competitors.