Merchandise Planning
For this Unpredictable Economy
Planning for Success this Fall - Part II

This issue of Retail Jewelry Insights™ is the second part of a series discussing fundamental business planning for specialty retail jewelers. This part will discuss sales planning, merchandise budgeting, and its relationship to the firm’s financial objectives. 


Plans are Dynamic
No time in recent history better illustrates the need to plan a business and constantly adjust those plans than 2009.  From this year’s beginning, forces affecting consumer demand and competition have been constantly changing, propelling sales along an erratic course.  Now, after eight  months, jewelers are no more certain about how the fourth quarter will unfold than they were in January.

Economic Indicators Misleading
Despite evidence that certain sectors of the economy are improving, we continue to believe that any recovery that doesn’t mean new jobs will be virtually meaningless to most retailers, especially jewelers.  For instance, according to a September Associated Press article, “the U.S. manufacturing sector grew in August for the first time in 19 months”.  That’s was the good news.  The bad news [news], manufacturing continues to suffer from over capacity.  In fact, that sector hasn’t contributed any new jobs in 30 years, yet sustained growth in manufacturing will contribute to increase GDP.  Similar indicators that the recession is receding belie the fact that nearly 7 million consumers have lost their jobs since the beginning of the recession and that number is still growing according to jobless figures released on September 4.  These numbers indicated the August unemployment rate had increased to 9.7%.  But, that’s only half the story....

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