Monthly Sales Results Are Interesting. Here's How to Make Them Significant!

The "international greeting" among retailers is "How are sales?"

The response almost invariably includes a reference to Last Year. Sales are up versus LY, or flat, or down. This is the common metric among retailers.

• The U.S. Census Bureau collects data on retail sales each month. Once again, The Retail Owners Institute® has analyzed the monthly retail sales by retail sector, compared those results to the same month Last Year, charted the results for the trailing 6 months, and posted them on The ROI site.
• Go here to see how your results compare to other retailers in your sector. Now, thanks to The ROI, it's easy for retailers to get perspective. (For instance, maybe you find that everybody else in your sector also was down. Misery loves company!)

Interesting. But NOT Significant!

Comparing your own results to Last Year, or even to others in your retail sector, is interesting. How to make it significant? Just one way: compare your results to Plan!

Once you know whether sales are ahead of plan or behind, you can use the "lead time" to make adjustments!


And the most important adjustment for retailers is, of course, inventory!

For instance, take another look at your Open-to-Buy plan. 

The key number to be watching with an eagle eye: your targeted Ending Inventory for each month. 

• Sales ahead of plan? You may need to adjust your buying to bring in more merchandise to meet your targets
• Sales lagging from plan? Good thing you found out now! You still have time to make adjustments, and avoid excess inventory.

The ROI makes it easy for you to do all this. Just take advantage of our online BUYING PLAN Forecaster.  Available 24/7. Free!

• Entries are easy and fast. Planned sales and margins for each month, plus Beginning Inventory at the start, and turnover rate. That's it!
• Immediately see a monthly Open-to-Buy, including targeted Ending Inventory for each month.
• Powerful. Fast.  Free, 24/7. Only at The ROI. Go here to use it for yourself.

Now THAT is significant!

Baseball Is Back! And Like Retailing, "It Ain't Slow Pitch!"

Question: Why is specialty retailing like Major League Baseball? (And, why is online shopping a lot like Spring Training?)

• Much like shopping at Amazon, eBay, etcetera, Spring Training games offer lots of selection! Each team's Spring Training rosters number 60 to 70 players! Talk about an "endless aisle"...
• With that "breadth of selection" comes variation in quality. Some are young "prospects"; others are players attempting comebacks; still others are veterans trying to hang. Plus, there are the big-name free agents establishing themselves with a new team.
• Just like online shopping, Spring Training offers every imaginable price point (that is, total team payroll, as well as individual player's contracts.) From prospects to free agents, there is much variation.
• And, while the scouting reports from the pros aren't available, there is no lack of "reviews": newspaper columns, TV reports, blog posts, tweets, etcetera about the relative merits of each player. Opinionated? Yes! Informed? Maybe.

But then, the "regular season" approaches. Rosters must be trimmed to 25 players on each team. As they say, "It ain't slow pitch!" 

That "editing" of the assortments - cutting the roster to the best 25 players - is why specialty retailing is like the Major Leagues. Retailing isn't slow pitch either!

The competitive advantage of specialty retailers is much like that of the baseball manager: wisely editing for the most success and the best fan appeal.

• Specialty retailers decide every day which merchandise "makes the team", and of that, which is in the starting lineup.
• Specialty retailers are dispassionate about trying new merchandise, as well as taking markdowns on under-performing merchandise. (Just like baseball managers send players back to the minor leagues, or trade them, or cut them from the team.)
• And yes, just like a baseball manager, a retailer's livelihood depends on how good a job of "editing" has been done, and how it performs.

When it comes down to it, the toughest decision in retailing is what merchandise to NOT carry. (Especially when the vendors want you to carry everything!)  And baseball managers risk their jobs with their decisions of which players to not have on the team.

See, good specialty retailing IS the Big Leagues!!