Module MFP - Merchandise Financial Planning

This merchandise financial planning module covers two key aspects of fashion retail merchandising.

Firstly, the implementation of commodity planning with regards to the top-down financial targets set within the strategic business planning process, creating an optimal bottom-up planning approach at assortment level which is aligned with growth and margin targets.

Secondly, scenario-based stock optimization – including flow of goods and invoicing finely tuned to cash flow management.

The module provides both pre-season as well as in-season planning, including markdowns, receipts, inventory, and open-to-buy metrics.

The special forecast calculation enables the efficient organization of volatile customer demands across all channels.

The solution has a direct impact on activity and contributes to the improvement of margins.

Module MFP - Merchandise Financial Planning

Merchandise Financial Planning consists of four relevant, fully integrated parts that get you up and running quickly:

A) Top-Down Planning

One-click initialization based on historical data, including forecast and trends, with an automatically weighted breakdown of the individual product group level share
Automatically updated financial targets based on the integrated financial planning module. Alternatively, it is possible to import external financial target figures from different sources
Configure and plan sales quantity, avg. sales price, net sales, markdown, gross margin, and purchase budget by a percentage or absolute value, or based on previous year deviation
Different levels of aggregation, such as purchase, target, or other predefined groups, enable you to make data entries at any level. These data entries will be automatically transferred to all levels through a multidimensional database
Use of reports and dashboards such as tree maps, portfolio, or bar charts, with adaptive selections to identify any need for action
Simulation and saving options for data entries, including the possibility to save scenarios and pick them up at any time for configuration or release to the next business level
Fully integrated workflow support to release plans for validation, in which supervisors can check, release, or reject them with ease

B) Bottom-Up Planning

One-click initialization based on top down target, including automatically weighted share breakdown on more detailed levels of product group hierarchies
Realtime or predefined update of top down targets
Configure and plan sales quantity, avg. selling price, net sales, markdown, gross margin and purchase budget by a percentage or absolute value, or based on previous year deviation
Different levels of aggregation, such as product, brand, season (actual, previous, or NOS), month, or other predefined groups, enable you to enter data at any level. The data entries will be automatically transferred to all levels through a multidimensional database
Use of reports and dashboards like tree maps, portfolio, or bar charts, with adaptive selections to identify any need for action
Simulation and saving options for data entries, including the possibility to save scenarios and pick them up at any time for configuration or release to the next business level

C) In Season OTB

Change In Season plan values like sales, markdown, margin, average selling price, final stock, or receipt. These data entries will affect, for example, the open-to-buy target. Alternatively, work with a fixed open-to-buy target, in which your changes to sales and receipts will update your upcoming ending inventory. Individual configuration is possible
Individual selection from different KPIs to increase transparency and customize the planning screen to individual preferences

D) Analysis

Monitoring of deviations from budget target, actual process status, and department/user as well as deadline monitoring
Quick creation of reports and dashboards
Forecast simulation and versioning (best scenario, worst scenario, final version)

Module MFP - Merchandise Financial Planning Image 1 — **Top Down Planning** - configure, simulate and plan sales quantity, avg. selling price, net sales, markdown, gross margin and purchase budget in % or abs. value or based on previous year deviation flexibly on high product aggregation levels (e.g. Purchase Groups, Target Groups, Month). Save and restore Scenarios as required.

Bottom Up Planning - configure, simulate and plan sales quantity, avg. selling price, net sales, markdown, gross margin and purchase budget in % or abs. value or based on previous year deviation flexibly on more detailed product hierarchies (e.g. Product Group, Brands, Season and month). Initialization based on top down target

InSeason Open-To-Buy Planning - adjust and simulate plan of upcoming months by changing parameters which will affect the open-to-buy target or change your Inventory (EOP). Plan vs. Act & FC deviations are visible immediately including colour coding, comments and graphical analysis.

InSeason Open-To-Buy Planning - Long lists of planning KPIs can be reduced to user individual needs based on KPI type (Plan, Act. & FC, OTB), the KPI topic itself of individually definable filters.