I was doing it wrong! For almost 10 excruciatingly long years, nobody had ever showed me where I was going wrong. Where was my cash? I was paying taxes. Why was there no money to pay them with??!!
Until I was introduced to Merchandise Planning, the secrets to retail sucess would elude me. I had heard people talk about open to buy, but was too ashamed and too fearful of appearing dumb to ask WHAT IT WAS! I was a sophisticated retailer, intent on the processes and procedures of consistency. I embraced and employed the newest technologies. Customer Service was our claim to fame, we had a great reputation for exceeding expectations and delivering and sourcing the very best products. We were profitable....or so said our accountant.
Merchandise planning allowed me to take back time, employ better strategies, reduce my inventory while maintaining or growing my sales, improve margins, retain more cash and eventually SLEEP again at night!