Tools for Merchandise Forecasting

Planning Strategy

To be sure, there’s more to merchandise forecasting than predicting demand for any item or category. George Mollo, president of GJM Associates, a catalog consultancy, notes:

You can’t plan any item in the abstract. This business is all about relationships: of items to their categories, of new to carry-over items, price points offered, perhaps fabrications offered, number of appearances (catalog drops), as well as the internal and external competition each item might encounter.