Merchandising/Purchasing

Product planning

Directions includes a group of reports that are invaluable in catalog and web planning and sales analysis. It captures the total cost of sales for each item -- including the amount of space you have devoted to each item in the catalog. Directions can show you the profitability of every item; you decide how much space to give an item or to change it's placement in your next campaign. Directions analyzes the placements of your items in terms of gross sales and profit, sales per square inch, product group and page number. At last you will have tools to help you evaluate your catalogs -- which pages sell best for you -- which items you should repeat -- or whether larger pictures make a difference to your customer. You have always known the most profitable pages in your catalog, now you will have proof of the winners and losers in profitability.

This same item analysis is available for your website. Items are tracked as specials offered on the same page or a category page. Sales are tracked based on the page group that the item is displayed and the sequence (how close to the top of the page) of an item on a page. An item can also be tracked if it is purchased as a suggested item related to a primary item.

Purchasing

Inventory projection begins with the items in the catalog and or the web. Past order history gives us an order line, or the expected number of orders per week. Each week has a "% complete" for each catalog. If there are three catalogs in the current campaign, each with a different drop date and order line; each catalog has a current % complete and is projected with its order line.

Replenishment

We researched inventory replenishment theory and incorporated the ''best of breed'' formulas into our purchasing system. You will use information from historical inventory activity including sales, seasonal sales trends, vendor lead time, vendor case packs, and minimum order quantities or value. The system automatically generates purchase orders for auto-replenishment items.

The best part of this system is that you can change the formulas to fine tune your replenishment. Formulas can be tailored for each vendor or each item. As an example, an item in the Suggested Purchase Order screen would have the following formula:

  • Daily sales rate uses last 90 days sales + Open orders
  • Vendor lead time is 13 days.
  • Min = 30 days sales,
  • Max = 30 days sales + lead time daily sales quantity,
  • Suggested PO = Max On Hand + Backorders

This is a conservative formula. Seasonal items can let the most recent sales determine the daily sales rate. In fact, for replenishment items that you have history for more than a year the formula can compare last year's activity to recent activity. How could this information change your business?

Let Directions show you how.

Functions

Automatic drop ship purchase orders
Suggested Pos
Vendor management
Multiple warehouses
Image sizing options
Integrated with receiving and payables
Email/Fax Purchase Orders
Replinishment Planning
Seasonal Planning
Market Driven Planning
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