CNGA LooseLeaf June/July 2019

Adjust the order based on the staff’s and buyer’s observations about missed sales and markdowns, as well as to make room for the addition of new products. If something sold out early and was not restocked, you may want to order more. If one plant variety like an asparagus sold out early and a less popular asparagus started selling well only after the first was gone, you may want to order more of the sold-out plant and less of the second choice. If you are ordering a new product like a different type of red geranium, then you should cut the number of the other type of red geraniums that were ordered in the past so the total number of the two products stays the same. Step 5 Step 6 Make final adjustments to the order based on discounts offered by the supplier for early ordering and quantity promotions. If an early order discount is high enough, you can risk stocking up on products, but if a discount is low, you may want to be more conservative in ordering and delay part of your order until later in the season. However, be careful not to delay orders for items that are difficult to get later in the season, such as flower bulbs. If you wait to order, some items like pottery or furniture from China may not be available when you need them. to fill up the store during off season. But, those late summer and early fall months soon pass, and Christmas tree sales and holiday events keep the store more attractive towards the end of the year. Then, when January and February come, the plan is for the first orders of long-lasting products like the hard goods, pottery and fertilizer to arrive and get set up. Each department tries to get everything in around the same time so they can set up that department completely, but it doesn’t always work out that way. Item selection in gift, holiday, and décor departments can vary greatly from year to year, and items that sold well in the last year may not be offered the next year. Here, as in fashion, sometimes an open-to-buy number makes sense where the focus is on the entire fine line (sub-department) or manufacturer rather than the sales of the individual items. “Buying for all these categories is very time consuming and requires a lot of labor dollars to do it correctly, but the rewards are great and are often the big difference in profitability for the year,” he concluded. “Buying for all these categories is very time consuming and requires a lot of labor dollars to do it correctly, but the rewards are often the big difference in profitability for the year.” 13 LooseLeaf  June/July 2019 colorad o nga.org Echter's looks at the sales history for each item through its POS (point of sales) system to help determine how much to order next.