Let us introduce our Smart Show merchandising guru, Sally Furrer, who is here to help you re-imagine your store's inventory in 2012.
There are tons of store owners out there who consider merchandise that's only 12 months old to be their "new stuff". And others clutching grimly onto inventory five years or older. You remember the definition of insanity? "Doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results." Don't be crazy. Do something different in 2012.
Let Sally get you started. Start down the path to making smarter buying decisions with her two-part introductory article, called Merchandising From a Clean Slate (parts one and two). Then check out her pre-show checklist, which gives you step by step instructions from January all the way through the date of The SMART Show. After that, download a complete set of forms you can begin using immediately to improve your buying process.
Don't stop there. Below, you'll find loads more advice from one of the industry's top merchandising gurus. And don't miss Sally's new columns every month in INSTORE.
Imagine Articles
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Sally Furrer: Merchandising From a Clean Slate — Part One
For the past two years most retailers have been in a crisis mode. But now it is time to look to the future and begin focusing on growing revenue and pursuing opportunities. To do so, step back from your normal inventory activities (like re-ordering top sellers and doing markdowns) to really think how you would expand your client base through merchandising. If you were to magically sell every SKU in your store tomorrow, what would you replace them with? While you’re never likely going to have a totally clean slate, you CAN take the first step of creating a merchandising…Written on Tuesday, 01 February 2011 10:29
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Sally Furrer: Merchandising From a Clean Slate — Part Two
As we discussed last month, your merchandising strategy defines your company’s future plan in terms of what you want your assortments to be, regardless of what you currently have in stock. The merchandise plan articulates your desired outcome by product groups — revenue, gross profit percentage. Once you have created your merchandising strategy, we can begin the next steps of creating a merchandise plan.[/dropcap] A merchandise plan can be too detailed and therefore too unwieldy to implement. Conversely, if it is too top-level, it won’t direct your day to inventory management and buying. I find it to be most effective…Written on Tuesday, 01 March 2011 10:29
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Sally Furrer: Five Steps to Your Best Mother’s Day Ever
Mother’s Day can be a terrific opportunity to generate sales. This is not an event to approach half-heartedly. To maximize sales, however; you will need to have a great marketing campaign and plenty of the right product. Follow these five steps to make your store the destination to celebrate Mother’s Day. 1. Select product (one to three items) to feature and promote via your marketing and advertising vehicles. It should be perceived as a fantastic value and resonate with your customers. Example: A sterling silver necklace with one engravable tag for $49. Your sweet spot in terms of price points…Written on Tuesday, 15 March 2011 10:29
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Sally Furrer: Using Merchandise Briefs For Strategic Purchasing
Purchasing new product should always be approached with considerable evaluation, a dose of analytics, and some vision and passion. Most buyers don’t have a problem with the passion part! While working a show, you will usually see more fun and compelling product than you have dollars for. It is crucial to step back from the great things you discover and make sure that the product will achieve the results you want. I developed the Merchandise Brief Form to easily compare potential new product, and ensure that I was not forgetting any of the aspects to consider. Once you have received…Written on Friday, 01 April 2011 10:18
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Sally Furrer: Merchandising Forms
Download your copy of Sally Furrer's merchandising forms here.Written on Friday, 15 April 2011 03:17
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Sally Furrer's Strategic Tools For Managing Inventory-Full Seminar (VIDEO)
Written on Sunday, 01 May 2011 02:44
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Sally Furrer: Smarter Buying
We buyers have no problem buying beautiful jewelry. Between the appreciation of great design and the thrill of the hunt, it is an exciting task. But before you start purchasing, the left brain needs to kick in and you need to dive into reports to build a foundation for your buy plan. Look at what percentage of your total inventory is over 12 months old. That is your report card on buying in the past.[ Next step is to review your strategic plan and your merchandising plan to remind yourself of your objectives. If you don’t have a plan, brainstorm…Written on Wednesday, 01 June 2011 03:31
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Sally Furrer: Replenish Wisely
I will share with you the concepts and strategies that I have successfully implemented to manage my inventory in the past. However, I will not be providing magic formulas new to this industry. Wish I had some! But I can tell you that it can be done. You can achieve unprecedented metrics for your company by applying the following strategies. The three critical areas of inventory management are Replenishment, New Purchasing and Aged Inventory. All three areas are of equal importance. Focusing on one and neglecting the other two will not get you the results that you want. This month…Written on Wednesday, 01 June 2011 03:31
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Sally Furrer: In Retail, It Rarely Pays to Be Patient
Aged inventory is like plaque in your arteries — it restricts your cash flow. To boost turn and start generating cash flow, you must manage inventory aggressively. If you have too much aged inventory, your clients have basically told you they don’t like your merchandise, and you need to get rid of it. There are a lot of suggestions out there on what to do with aged inventory. Some entail marking the product up, or re-merchandising (add adding a center diamond). With some exceptions, my issue with these types of approaches is that they prolong the problem. I prefer to…Written on Friday, 01 July 2011 03:31
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Sally Furrer: The Art and Science of Merchandising
My last couple of articles have dealt more with the science part of merchandising. Certainly the mechanics of buying and inventory management is critical to the success of your business. Whether you are engaging in new purchasing, replenishment, or aged inventory management, there is a detailed, rigorous aspect to it. On hands and sales trends need to be analyzed and drilled down into in order to uncover which products need attention. Most importantly, this is a process which needs to happen regularly and consistently. It does require commitment and discipline. All these activities engage the left brain. I recently read…Written on Thursday, 29 September 2011 09:51
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Sally Furrer's Three-Pronged Approach To Inventory Management-Full Seminar (VIDEO)
Written on Saturday, 01 October 2011 02:47
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Sally Furrer: Stock for the Self-Purchaser
In order to be successful with the female self purchaser, you need to understand how and why they shop and the product they want. They are females first, and shoppers second. One of the problems with retail jewelry today is it is event- and gift-driven, it is centered around romance, and it is targeted to men. The consumer has been trained to think of jewelry as a special occasion purchase, and not an everyday purchase, or self-purchase. The result is that women can hesitate to spend money on jewelry, even though they just spent $500 on shoes. We need to…Written on Saturday, 01 October 2011 03:27
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Sally Furrer: Express Yourself
Launch you own collections to stand outThe jewelry business is very different from other types of retailing. For instance, the department store business is driven by national branded merchandise. Conversely, in jewelry there are just a handful of nationally recognized jewelry brands, if you exclude watches. The expense and timeline to build a jewelry brand is huge. So, a number of the majors have taken the tack of aligning product with already established celebrities — Jane Seymour’s Open Hearts from Sterling is an one example. Since the dramatic success of that collection, we have seen a flurry of similar partnerships —…Written on Wednesday, 02 November 2011 08:59
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Sally Furrer: Tap the bridal market around Valentine’s Day
While Valentine’s Day is one of the top events for most retail jewelers, the average sale tends to be lower than Christmas, as the other gifts men are contemplating are lower-priced flowers, chocolates, etc. What can build your Valentine’s Day volume, however, is bridal. Many people don’t realize that February is the second strongest engagement month of the year, eclipsed only by December. December has both all the family gathering of the season (when many couples like to announce their engagement) and New Year’s Eve (a popular time to get engaged). But no one can deny the romance of getting…Written on Monday, 05 December 2011 03:59
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Sally Furrer: Create a purchasing plan based on reality
By now the dust has settled from the all-important last quarter of 2011. You’ve run numerous reports and analyzed the data. I hope this answered your key questions. Did total sales increase over 2010? If so, in which departments? Which months generated the increases — was there any momentum or other trend? What were the top sellers in each department? How much aged or dead stock do I still have? Now that you’ve achieved a good understanding of your sales trends and on-hands, it is time to consider your next investment in inventory. Creating an open-to-buy is not difficult, but…Written on Thursday, 05 January 2012 03:23
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Sally Furrer: New demographics will challenge us to become jewelers of the future
2011 was an interesting year for the jewelry industry. Thankfully most jewelers saw an increase in sales over the prior year, with even some progress in margin. A few even regained their sales volumes from pre-recession. Of special interest to me is that we saw the weakening of two powerful trends — the bead business and gold buying. These two business segments have kept many retailers “in the game” so to speak. Looking to the future, we have to ask ourselves, how will we replace these two business segments? I feel strongly that we need to get back to our…Written on Thursday, 05 January 2012 03:46
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Sally Furrer: A Month-by-Month Guide to Merchandising
Sally Furrer on preparing perfectly to buy at The SMART Show. January Create or review your strategic plan and your merchandising plan to clarify your objectives. Or, brainstorm with your staff on unclosed sales and missed opportunities from Q4. Compare your Q4 results with your objectives — are you on track to where you want to be? Ask yourself what you are trying to accomplish at the show. Think about what type of product will fulfill your objectives. What buying strategies will get you to your 2012 goals? A few examples: Attract female self-purchasers with bold, fun fashion rings. Expand…Written on Thursday, 05 January 2012 07:40
