How I came to blog

Took me almost a year to decide to write on this blog and the long pondering of what I really wanted to do has somehow beckon me to aspire to write once again.

I think the very nature of me since childhood is to be constantly updated through reading magazines, books and news articles even watching the nightly news has been a habit for many countless years, thanks to the influence of my Papa, who never misses on his daily dose of Newspaper's being delivered in our house when he was still living.

I started out reading the comics pages and later got fascinated about the editorial cartoons which I haven't thought then as a satirical rendition of the Geo-political landscape of our country when I was yet a child.  And later my Papa would encourage me to read the editorial opinion page written by the late Blas F. Ople, Francisco Kit Tatad, Max Soliven, Randy David and many more which unknowingly then I have been molded in my youthful braincells by the greatest minds of our land.

Then I got hold of one Panorama magazine which features the Philippines top business tycoons and then I began idolizing their brilliant powers to shape the economic landscape of this country such as the likes of Lucio Tan, John Gokongwei, Henry Sy, George S.K. Ty, Emilio T. Yap, Tan Yu.  These men amazed me back then and viewed them as super-heroes and I have always dreamt as my mind can ever dream of becoming, I even wrote my own lists of companies I want to name at an age where most would have been playing with legos and matchbox toys.

During my teenage years I got to expand my horizon to the international forefront and has almost read all of the Philippine tycoons and Hong Kong Tycoons biographies and autobiographies as well the life of Warren Buffett of the Berkshire-Hathaway fame.  I even got this deep-rooted desire to become a tycoon one day.

In my college years, I met a friend who shared a book called Taipan by James Clavell, I got so amused with the lead character Dirk Struan that I wanted to be just like him thus I have borrowed the title as an online name in facebook, ym and other online social media sites which often makes those who don't really know me to ask, if Taipan is really my first name (to which I replied, No!) Taipan is just like a title of royalty, like Baron or Duke but in the asian business setting, this of my own belief and opinion.

I went to study Management Information System yet the passion and desire to constantly learn business is innate and hasn't diminished through time, so I chose a path in retail that by a twist of fate landed me from retail salesman of a hardware store to supervising operations of a big Home Depot store, to become a merchandising buyer for a mall department stores and later move me up higher and higher to an international brand of Shoes and Apparel lines to Merchandising Manager and Merchandising Category Management positions then to be a Vice President for a local retailer and consultant-senior merchandising buyer for an upstart international online retailer.

After all these years, the craving to write and share my ideas and be someone who wants to passionately pursue a dream of being a writer(be it for opinion, lifestyle, content writing or just simply sharing still moves me within).

Thus I have decided to look back and see that I have written something in the past but hasn't really relentlessly pursued it to the utmost limit as career dictates otherwise a different calling.

But I guess, a new quest and hunger to learn and start anew isn't too late, and there's always a far brighter future in beginning a journey that may not be financially rewarding or sustaining as a corporate ladder  rise but shall be much of a heart-felt warmth and joy to do.

Thus this journey begins.

Ladies Wear in a Man's Hand

What does the number 7 mean...numerologist say its a complete day cycle as in  the biblical day of completion and a day to rest.  To me, its another tasks to undertake a new meaning of my journey in the exciting world of merchandising.

My boss just gave me the seventh department to handle, just as if I'm not pre-occupied enough work with the 6 other departments (namely, Toys, Sporting Goods, Boys Teens Wear, Children's Special Department, Boy's Wear, Footwear Departments)  and today she called me to tasked to handle one precipitously uncanny decision she would ever have made and I myself could not understand her wisdom for including it in the roster of departments I have to manage in terms of merchandise, stock allocations, target sales, despite the daunting tasks passed on to me to bear nevertheless, I find it two-pronged, an end of my career or if I can prove it to still be a viable scores to improve this departments sales performance and balancing of inventories and sales ratio, it'll be an exciting new challenge... a Ladies Wear Fashion department for cying out loud.

My boss might have not thought that I am a guy who knows nothing at all whatsoever about women's clothing much more about fashion stuffs that women looked for.  I even have to protest during the first instance she uttered the department to me, but she still prevailed upon me to take on the challenge with the least likelihood of success.

Firstly, the department besides being a women's line category and caters on the women's fashion sense, I for one would not know where to begin, but secondly, it is the biggest if not the most profit driver among all departmental merchandising categories but has lost its momentum for 3 consecutive quarters and has been overtaken by the Men's Wear Fashion Line and the Infants department categories.  Not to mention the many bad inventories I have to deal with this soured department.  6 years of bad inventories thats eating up the inventory budget and is on its way to a natural demise to say the least.

I just hope given the time constraint for a few months away from retail peak season, I'd be able to do a miracle cure for this ailing category.  I've had tons of studying to make about women's taste and fashion sensibilities and cleaning up mess to do.  I can only do this blog to write and shake off the shock that still pierced through me.  

Open To Buy Planning

Good inventory control is critical to ensuring an adequate level of stock is on hand for the amount of sales being generated. Having too much inventory (or the wrong type) during certain periods can slow your cash flow and reduce profits with too many markdowns. On the other hand, if you under buy and miss sales opportunities then you are not making your potential profit. A retailer can be sure to stock the right amount of the right products at the right time by using an Open-To-Buy (OTB) plan.

Open-To-Buy can be calculated in either units or dollars. OTB is essentially the difference between how much inventory is needed and how much is actually available. This includes inventory on hand, in transit and any outstanding orders.

In order to take advantage of special buys or to add new products, some of the OTB dollars should be held back. This also allows the retailer to react to fast-selling items and quickly restock shelves.

Consider maintaining an OTB plan for your business as a whole, but also plan for each category of merchandise you stock. The plan can be maintained on paper, in a spreadsheet or by purchasing one of the several retail software packages available that contain Open-To-Buy programs.

The Open-To-Buy Formula

Planned Sales
+ Planned Markdowns
+ Planned End of Month Inventory
- Planned Beginning of Month Inventory
----------------------------------------
= Open-To-Buy (retail)

For example, a retailer has an inventory level of 150,000 on July 1st and planned 152,000 End of Month inventory for July 31st. The planned sales for the store are $48,000 with $750 in planned markdowns. Therefore, the retailer has 50,750 Open-To-Buy at retail.

Note: Multiply that number by the initial markup to reach the OTB at cost. If our markup is 40%, then our Open-To-Buy at cost is 20,300.

Before placing your Open-to-Buy plan into operation, ask yourself if each number is realistic. Does it make sense for the way you do business? Keep in mind that many of the figures on your inventory plan are only guidelines. A good rule of thumb is if your actual ending inventory is within five percent of your plan, you are doing very well.

Sample 6 Month Plan

6-Month OTB Plan	June	July	August	September	October	November
Beginning Of Month Inventory	155,000	150,000	152,000	157,000	157,000	165,000
Sales	47,000	48,000	50,000	50,000	52,000	48,000
Markdowns	1,000	750	750	1000	1500	1000
Open-To-Buy	43,000	50,750	55,750	51,000	61,500	37,000
End of Month Inventory	150,000	152,000	157,000	157,000	165,000	153,000

Competitive Shopping, Analyze your Competition

I'm a retailer, a retail consultant specifically, a student of retailing. I simply can't walk by a store, much less into a store, without trying to figure out what makes that store tick, how customers perceive the store, what that store does well, and what I can learn from them.

I love to stop and admire a particularly effective merchandise presentation, or watch a really talented sales associate work with a customer, or take in a really well thought-out cash wrap. I notice things, like how corners are lit, and how many units of an item are on display, and whether customers are happy to be there, or eager to complete their business and be on their way.

When I work with clients, we talk a lot about competitive shopping. I'll ask them about who they consider their competitors, and how frequently they shop them. And the responses are usually pretty consistent.

Most independent retailers have a clear sense of who their key competition is (though they may construe who their competition is far too narrowly), and they shop them frequently. But when you ask what they saw the last time they shopped the competition, too often I hear about problems, weaknesses, and how uncompetitive they are. It usually takes my prompting to get them to talk about what their competition does particularly well, and what can be learned from them.    

The key to understanding your competition is to understand why their customers -- your potential customers -- view them as a preferable source for the products and services they offer. And it's not just your competition that you can learn from, it's every retailer that you encounter. Here are a few things that I look for when I visit a store:

• Who is their target customer, by gender, age, and income level? How do they entice their target customer to come into the store and shop? 

• When you walk in the store, have they constructed a compelling visual presentation? What's the critical message they seek to communicate with that initial impression? How have they built out and appointed the store to reinforce that impression? 

• What's the product/service niche they are trying to occupy? How clearly are they communicating their core competency? What level of customer service and product knowledge would customers require and/or expect based upon this niche? 

• How do they lead their customers through their stores? What can their physical layout tell you about their traffic pattern, their merchandising strategy, and their dedication to customer service?

• What are their most important products or category of products? Where do they put them in the store? Do they view these items as destination items or impulse items? (Some of the most successful retailers are built around an ever-changing assortment of high impulse items.) What's the balance between highly identifiable branded goods, and unique, distinctive goods? 

• What is their pricing strategy? Are they a price leader, commanding a premium price based on quality, cachet, customer service and shopping experience? Or are they matching price, competing on location, availability and ease of shopping? Or are they competing directly on price, on being the lowest price? 

• How are they staffed? Are there enough associates? Too many? Are their associates order-takers/register-ringers, or do they possess specialized knowledge and expertise? Are they focused on helping customers, or on other things?

• Is this a place just to buy things, or is it a place that exudes a personality, that's a fun place to be, where buying something is part of an overall experience? Are customers in and out quickly, or do they tend to linger?

• How well do they execute? Is the store neat and clean? How well are the displays maintained? Is the cash-wrap organized and clutter-free? Is the merchandise clearly signed and priced? 

• How effective is their signage? What are they trying to accomplish with their signage, to reinforce the feeling of the store, or convey critical information? Is the signage particularly distinctive? What other methods are they using to reinforce the customers experience in the store? 

• What merchandise displays are particularly compelling? Innovative? Why? How are they using lighting and other techniques to draw their customer's attention, and highlight specific presentations? 

• How fast do they turn their inventory? Does the merchandise look fresh, or like it's been there a while? How well do they balance between building compelling merchandise displays and carrying more than they might reasonably expect to sell. What might this suggest about their vendor and supply chain structure? 

• How clean are their assortments? Are they in pristine, never-shopped order? (I'm known to do a quick count of inventory on a table, shelf or rack, to see how much has sold down.) Is there a sea of markdowns? What's the balance between full-priced and markdown merchandise, and is that balance seasonally appropriate? 

• What are customers buying? From observing customers at the cash-wrap, what can you learn about their likely units-per-transaction?

• What's the one idea I can take from this store and apply to my own business?

You may have a whole series of additional things that you look for when you walk in a store. No list can ever be complete. There's a reason why your competitor is your competitor, and it's critical that you understand what that reason is. But the skills of competitive shopping shouldn't just be applied to your direct competition. Rather, the key is to be a student of retailing, constantly looking for new ideas that you can apply, in your own way, to keep your store fresh and dynamic.

Valuing Customers Power

At the very heart of any business are the customers, the buying public, the consumers.  They hold the key to any success.  Of course corporate planning, good corporate and managerial leaderships, investors plowing the money are equally important, but the bread of the dough comes from the patronage of our customers.

In my years of being in the retail business, be it in store operations, merchandising, category management, my role does not end when I have done my responsibilities as a merchandising manager, its an on-going flow and giving much attention on the front-line of the stores, the sales clerks, merchandisers, sales associates, sales personnel, however we call them, they play the bigger part in ensuring the customers who walked by the store aisles are given utmost importance.

In the past decade, businesses around the world have started placing a renewed focus on customers. They’re doing this because they see that customers have more choice than ever before. If customers don’t perceive that a company’s offering is worth what they’ve paid for it, they’ll take their money to a competitor who offers better value. That competitor may be right next door or on the other side of the world. So what do customers value and how can we go about understanding customer drivers?

The idea that business success comes from focusing on customers is not new, and vision and mission statements are full of aspirational language about customer satisfaction, customer loyalty, and being customer centric. Yet, some of the most metric-driven companies would be hard pressed to explain how they are measuring and managing the customers’ view of their company’s value to them.

What’s lacking in most companies is a real understanding, alignment and focus on their customers, and a genuine understanding of what value they can provide to their customers. To date, companies have focused on “what they can do to their customers”, rather than “what they can do for their customers”.

Companies have invested heavily in the much-hyped introduction of CRM systems so that they can segment their customers. This then allows them to sell more effectively to them, provide customer support to them at the lowest cost, and target marketing campaigns to them more cost effectively. The only mention of value is the value of the customer through lifetime value calculations. You never hear of CRM systems being introduced to make it easier for the customer, and thereby offer them greater value.

To be successful, businesses need useful and practical ways to capture customer needs, measure how well they’re satisfying those needs compared to the competition, and build action plans based on what customers value to win in the marketplace. Firms of all sizes and in varying industries are struggling to:

• gain a deeper understanding of and agreement on precisely what customers value
• create reliable methods of measuring the value of what they offer compared to the competition
• provide the best value to customers, to employees, and to shareholders; and then establish the connection among these three imperatives
• increase market share and loyalty while maintaining and even improving profitability.

Businesses that know what customers value, know how to deliver this value better than the competition, and know when it’s important to communicate with customers so that they perceive the true value delivered achieve competitive advantage, better business results and increased shareholder value. A growing body of statistical research is proving this common-sense principle.

The “why” of Customer Value Management

There is an emerging art and science of Customer Value Management (CVM) that is proving its worth when it comes to understanding what customers’ value. Firms of all sizes that capture and use customer data with the discipline, passion and understanding they give to operational and financial data are learning that this business practice is well worth the time and money involved. By focusing on understanding customer drivers they are winning in the customer market, they also win in the employment market (attracting and retaining talented people) and in the financial market (attracting and retaining the investment required to keep the business alive and growing).

At the heart of Customer Value Management (CVM) is an understanding of how value is created for the customer by a company’s:

• products, services and business relationships
• overall cost of doing business

Customer Value Management is both a way of thinking and a set of techniques and methods that anyone in business can use to determine where to focus time, energy and money to create value for customers. Research and experience have shown that if you do this better than the competition, you’ll win business and reap the rewards in the form of profit and shareholder value.

Customer Champions, the leading practitioner of Customer Value Management in the UK and Europe, has witnessed firsthand some of the difficulties that companies face while running customer-focused programmes. They have found that, although nearly all major companies in the UK and Europe are conducting some form of customer feedback programme, only one in three plans any actions based on that input, and only one in nine actually implements any change because of it.

The “how” of Customer Value Management

The concept of Customer Value Management is really very simple. It’s about:

• Choosing value: Asking customers in your target market what they value, finding out how they rate the value you deliver compared to the competition, and using the understanding of customer drivers to focus priorities and then decide what value proposition to take to market.
• Delivering value: Making sure your business processes are aligned with your value proposition, and determining what business improvements on your part will deliver greatest value to customers.
• Communicating value: Educating the market on your value proposition and how you’re focusing investment to deliver greater value than the competition.

Keeping Customer Loyalty and Happy

Customer's loyalty is unstable, they easily shift from one product providers as they easily gets bored, that is why building relationships that goes beyond assisting their needs, kept adept with their caprices, no matter at times impossible, I emphasize the importance of "always saying yes, perhaps, will do our best attitude" towards their requests".  This way we make them leaving our stores happy, satisfied and wielding the perceived "power" of their value in our stores.  

We never want them leaving unhappy and unsatisfied as we would want to see them again and become our loyal patron for a very long, long time, and that means our cash registers will keep on ringing because they are their always happy to shop and our royal patrons.

First 5 years in Retailing

Today I celebrate my 5th year in the retailing business which began in a small town construction and hardware store, where my primary task is to prepare purchase order, negotiate and select hardware spare parts and construction materials, prepare the weekly collectibles from valued clients.

I remember having this thick leather bound black book that contains all the names of our valued customers who would normally come and buy either their trucking and motorpool spare part needs, purchase cement, plywood boards, enamel paints even just a few grams of construction nails.

I have always fancy to learn all about what the typical hardware stores are like, growing up in a community seeing the mainstream chinese family either has a hardware store or a grocery store.  I choose to be immerse with the former to begin my journey in the whole world of business most especially retailing business.

What differentiates this first hands on job with my succeeding jobs is that, in a regular business, our prices are dictated by customer relationships. We do not have a fixed(set in stone pricing), the price we give our buyers depends primarily if they are new customers, they are given the regular price, a mark up of 30% to 80%, as for our valued regular clients, who normally would ask for discounts, we can go as low as having 10%-15% margin.  So primarily our pricing mechanism is dictated by relationships.

Initially, I've got to learn a whole set of business acumen, negotiation and even hands-on learning of the various merchandise, there was even a time when I have to go underneath a customers vehicle just to check their car muffler if it has a leak on it.  On my own, I thought, I would want to learn everything I have to learn while I'm working at this construction and hardware store, as I would only have to past this way once in my life, if someday I get lucky enough and able to set up my own business, who knows I might be in the same hardware business afterall.

After just a brief stay in my first retail job, I got a job offer from a bigger retailer, this time a construction materials depot which I have to be the Store Manager managing the paints, tiles, electrical, construction materials, furnitures even the doorknobs, nails and screws.  Here I learned to manage people, I acquired the customer service skills.  It was also where I encountered the most vicious amongst customer complaints that one time, a customer came and poked a gun at my face since he purchase from the previous store manager who quit the job and still wasn't able to get the water tanks he needs for his house.  As shocking as it may be to some, but I took it up with much courage to talk sense into him and luckily the customer who is a military official was pacified and got his full-refund.

It was also as a Store supervisor for the construction depot that I learned how to climb display gondolas to check for stacks of inventories on storage atop our selling shelves.  I learned to give motivational sales talk to my sales crew to boost their moral at work and even act as their social therapist whenever they feel downtrodden from so many family and work troubles.  I also learned to come up with sales training techniques to improve the target sales of the team.

After a year, I got a job offer to be a merchandise buyer for a bigger mall, specifically for their department store, to which I have no idea whatsoever is the task of being in merchandising is all about since my first two jobs are store operation related.

I was given 3 weeks to learn everything about the store inventories, clean up the mess, dispose damage merchandise, clean up the inventory system, learn all about Microsoft Inventory System, JDA System, SAP System and even the old-school way of doing inventory, the index card compilation.  It was a juggling task to negotiate with vendors, sellers, create purchase order, reviewing inventories and looking for missing inventories.

I even have to personally take the initiative to work beyond office hours, spend the weekend in the office or in the store back-end to clean up the store mess.  I inherited a troubled department that only sells 1.3M each month during the regular season and 2.5M on a peak month.  I have an overstocked inventories of 14 months(the normal carrying inventory is supposed to be 2.5 or 3 months of the target sales).

With speed and my willingness to learn, improve and prove my worth that I can improve a troubled department, in modesty, I was able to free up alot of inventories, improved the merchandise mix that translated to an improved sales. On my third month on the job, I hit the target sales for the month and has consistently grown the department.  Its now my 2 years and 8 months of handling this department and my monthly target is now pegged at 8M for a regular month and last years peak season, I hitted a staggering sales of 76M, which I supposed makes my boss extremely happy.  She even called me a "Magician", I really don't know why.

I hope to be able to continually linger and still outpaced the target sales in the succeeding years ahead.

What is an "Open-To-Buy"?

In the world of retail, Open-To-Buy is quite a buzzword. Do a Google search on "Open-To-Buy" and over 100,000 references come up, many that are for consultants and software vendors offering Open-To-Buy programs. Many small retail software packages offer an Open-To-Buy module as an add-on option. But there are few retail software packages that include an Open-To-Buy function as part of the core package. As a result, many small retailers struggle to find some way to effectively budget their merchandise dollars. Frequently when I'm talking with a potential client they'll ask, "Do you think I need an Open-To-Buy?" without really knowing exactly what an Open-To-Buy is.

So what exactly is an Open-To-Buy?

The clearest and simplest definition is that it is a financial budget for retail merchandise. Let's look at this more closely.

• An Open-To-Buy relates directly to retail merchandise, is structured specifically to address the needs of retailers, and is a tool designed to assist retailers manage and replenish their most significant asset, their inventory investment.

• An Open-To-Buy is a budget, and involves the full range of budgetary functions. It begins with the planning process, is future oriented, provides guidance on how much to buy, and provides benchmarks for evaluating progress, and adjusting future plans.

• An Open-To-Buy is a financial tool, in that the units of measure are typically dollars, usually retail dollars but sometimes cost dollars, and that it can be tied back to the financial control process.

• An Open-To-Buy can work on any level that a retailer needs it to. It can be used to track merchandise at the company, department, classification or sub-classification level. In rare cases for a small retailer, it can even be used to track an individual item.

Fashion and Seasonal Merchandise versus Basic In-Stock Items

It is important to note from the start, that as a replenishment tool, an Open-To-Buy is not appropriate for all categories of merchandise. It is most appropriate for fashion merchandise where the specific items may change, but the departments, classifications and sub-classifications remain relatively stable, and seasonal merchandise where inventories are brought in at the beginning of the selling season, and need to be managed down to pre-determined ending level at the end of the selling season.

In the case of fashion or seasonal merchandise, an Open-To-Buy answers the question of how much to buy, but not necessarily the question of which specific items to buy. For that, a detailed assortment plan is necessary, which lays out exactly what items will be coming in when, and provides a plan for how all of the individual items come together to form a compelling merchandise assortment.

In contrast, an Open-To Buy is not appropriate as a replenishment tool for day-in and day-out basics. These staple items are more effectively replenished using an automatic replenishment program running off of pre-determined minimum and maximum inventory parameters. In the case of these in-stock basics, an Open-To-Buy may still serve a valuable budget and control function at a department or category level.

Planning

Like any budget, an Open-To-Buy starts with a plan, then compares actual results to that plan and quantifies any variances. Carefully considered planning is the critical first step in constructing an Open-To-Buy.

The planning process begins with building a sales plan. For small retailers, most sales plans are broken out by the month, although in some cases, especially highly seasonal businesses or categories, it may be more appropriate to plan sales by the week. The question to ask is a very basic one: "What is the most likely level of sales from stock (excluding special orders) by month (or week)?"

Once a sales plan has been developed, the next piece of the planning process is to build an inventory plan. The question to ask is this: "How much inventory do I need at the end of each month to support the next month's sales (in some cases the ending inventory may need to support more than just one month of future sales), as well as maintain effective merchandise displays?"

From there, other things like inventory adjustments and markdowns need to be planned.

Finally, from the plans that have been developed, an inventory receipt plan can be arrived at. For any given period (month or week), the planned inventory receipts is the planned ending inventory, plus the planned sales, markdowns and inventory adjustments, less the prior month's ending inventory. Stated another way, the planned inventory receipts answers the question, "How much inventory do I need to bring in to cover my sales, markdowns and adjustments, given my planned beginning inventory, in order to end up with my planned ending inventory?"

The inventory receipt plan serves several important functions. First, it serves as the inventory purchasing plan for future months. While it doesn't tell you specifically what to buy, (you need an assortment plan for that), it does tell you how much you need to by for receipt in each month. Second, because inventory purchases are typically the most significant cash outflow for a small retailer, the inventory purchasing plan serves as a critical input into a financial cash flow plan.

The completed Open-To-Buy plan also enables a small retailer to evaluate, before the season starts, critical inventory productivity metric like inventory turnover and gross margin return on investment GMROI) (see "Measuring Inventory Productivity"). These are critical measures of the productivity of the inventory investment, and evaluating the planned turnover and GMROI allows the small retailer to pro-actively manage these metrics for continual improvement.

In Season

A completed Open-To-Buy plan establishes the critical benchmarks for evaluating exactly where you are once you get into the season. It's after the season gets underway that an Open-To-Buy truly earns its keep. In season, key decisions have to be made about what to reorder, what to back off on, and how to allocate any remaining Open-To-Buy budget.

A well structured Open-To-Buy will present both the plan and actual results, and allow management to track the progress as the season goes along. Actual sales can be compared to planned sales, actual receipts to planned receipts, actual ending inventories to planned ending inventories, future open purchase order quantities to planned receipts for each month.

Like any good budget, an Open-To-Buy needs to have a future orientation. It needs to be able to tell management how much inventory is needed in any future month to make the sales and ending inventory plans, given the current purchase order commitments for that month.

The open-to-buy through any given month is the planned ending inventory less the projected actual ending inventory. For prior months it quantifies whether the company was over-inventoried or under-inventoried. For future months, it identifies through any given month whether additional inventory is needed or whether too much inventory has already been committed to.

The open-to-buy within any given month is the planned receipts for that month less the current purchase commitments. For prior months it measures the efficiency of the buyers and vendors in providing inventory as planned. For future months, especially for future seasons, it quantifies any remaining available open-to-buy for that specific month.

Like any management tool, an Open-To-Buy is merely a tool to help a small retailer better manage their inventory. It requires an initial investment in time and attention to build out a realistic plan, and diligence to maintain it as you go through the year or a season. But it can yield dramatic results quickly in most situations, from increased sales to leaner inventories and reduced markdowns and overstocks. It's a tool that in the hands of a fully committed small retailer can profoundly improve financial performance.