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Holiday Merchandise Need Forecasting
By businessbroad | November 4, 2007
In retail, the last two months of the year are absolutely crucial. It really doesn’t take much to realize that. If you own or manage some kind of retail establishment, however, it takes on a whole new meaning. 80% (and sometimes more) or your sales will come from that time period, and yet that’s the period where you will have the most difficulty with both staffing and supply.
While most of us have done the bulk of our holiday stock-building by November, this is the time to evaluate those faint beginnings of the holiday rush. By taking a good look at things now, you can place the things you’ll probably need for re-orders before everyone else - and hopefully, you won’t be stuck with backorders in late November.
In early October, I ordered roughly 5 times what I normally need for a 3 month period. Next week, I expect to place similarly large orders for items that have done well in the last two weeks. I’d be interested to hear how others do it, though - There’s definitely no perfect way to go about it.
Topics: General Business |