Picture Your Retail Planning With ChainDrive OTB
How clear is the data at your planning meeting?
Open-to-Buy (OTB) is an important part of retail planning, as are the many other factors that make up the analysis and creation of a roadmap for the future of the business. But not everyone can visualize what the data represents when looking at a spreadsheet. That’s why the graphing feature of ChainDrive Retail Planning software /OTB software has been developed.
Powerful Visual Comparison of Data
Imagine a strategy-planning meeting where a stack of spreadsheets and numbers is passed around. Each page has accurate facts, like last year’s profit versus this year’s profit, or sales versus markdowns, or purchases versus gross margin. There may be other combinations, too, depending on the type of planning to be done in this meeting. Look around the room: who has a dazed look on their face? Who is numbly paging through the pile with increasing trepidation? Who has just glanced at it and waited for someone to explain what all this stuff actually means and why it is important?
These people are valuable members of the team and they would have good input if they could just see what the data is saying. They are visually oriented, like most of the population, and communicating with a graphic visual comparison of the data will have a powerful effect on this planning meeting. Suddenly the anecdotal light bulb moment lights up the faces and brainstorming begins. In a graphic form, actualized historical statistics are easily seen and compared to various potential plans for the future.
Multiple seasons can be viewed corporately or individually so that the various parts all fit in the overall objectives. Each element can be manipulated individually so that a data cell or an entire sub-level plan can be locked or unlocked during planning. This ensures nothing is lost in the shuffle of ideas being adjusted and readjusted during a session.
Retail Planning Software – See Data Various Ways
Because ChainDrive OTB is designed to adapt to the user, various business requirements and analytical viewpoints are able to be represented. The user decides what data to look at and how that data will be displayed. Versatile data displays can include all the members of the team by presenting the information in the way that “clicks” for each one. This means planning meetings can be energized because everyone sees the importance of what is being visualized for the future of the business.
