![]() I am actually very comfortable with math. The better I am at understanding what is selling and why, the better I am at selecting what styles will sell best in the future. Math enables me to make better buying decisions because I am able to analyze sales more effectively. Once I know that something is trending, I can buy into with confidence. I try to find commonalities across my best-selling styles to help identify trends. I also compare the percentage of a product we have on hand to the percentage of sales it produces to understand which products have the greatest impact on sales. Today, I use retail math to look at sell-through to see which styles are selling the most rapidly. They showed us how to apply simple math equations to sales data in order to make sense of it. When I first started in the Lord & Taylorretail training program, the first class they gave us was in retail math. It would be impossible to do my job without math. How do you think math helps you do your job better? ![]() If the markup is not high enough, I need to negotiate for a better price, and I need to know what the ideal price is on the spot. This is why I always carry my calculator. When I am at a trade show and I am negotiating a price, I need to be able to calculate what the markup of the item will be – quickly. The higher the markup percentage, the greater the profit. The markup of an item is the percentage of sales of that item that is profit. One of the calculations I am always running is markup percentage. I never go anywhere without my calculator. If I order too little, I don’t make my sales plan and if I order too many, I may need to mark them down.ĭo you use any technology to help with this math?Īlthough I use basic math, many of the calculations are too difficult to do in my head so I depend a lot on calculators and computers to help me. If I only have 200 units in inventory then I know that I need to order 600 more. For example, if I want to keep this product for 8 weeks and I am selling 100 a week, I know that I need a total of 800 units. I do this by looking at the average number of units we are selling in a week and I project out how many I will need for a specific amount of time. Once I have identified the best products, I need to decide if I have enough to achieve my sales plan or if I need to order more. Every week I look at how many owl and cupcake products have sold and I calculate which of these products are selling the best. Right now, owls and cupcakes are two hot trends. I use addition, subtraction, multiplication and division daily to understand how products and product classifications are selling. I rely a lot on math to help me with this analysis. In order to make the correct selections, I need to base my decisions on multiple factors including price, function, visual appeal, gross margin/profitability and the sales history of similar products (not just because I like it). I have bought almost every different type of product - clothing, gifts and even candy! In fact, I strongly suggest going to the candy trade show it’s delicious! And while this sounds like a lot of fun, the decisions I make have a strong impact on the success of my company. I get to travel to trade shows, review catalogs and meet with manufacturers to look at different products in order to decide what to order. ![]() This means that I select and purchase merchandise that will be sold in the stores that I work for. And - surprise! - there’s math involved.Ĭan you explain what you do for a living? As a retail buyer, she helps stores decide which (and how many) products are sold in stores. And that’s where Jennifer Cassara comes in. In fact, there’s a lot of planning that goes into the number and types of candy bars that fill checkout-line racks. Merchandise at your favorite store doesn’t magically appear on the store shelves.
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