OMNI CHANNEL BUYING AND PLANNING

Submitted to
Dr. Jagriti Mishra

Submitted by
Amita Rode
Chhavi Yadav

Harshita Deorari
Srushti Vaidya
Tanya Uniyal

Department of Fashion Management Studies (FMS)

National Institute of Fashion Technology (NIFT) (Ministry of Textiles, Govt. of India) GH-0
Road, Behind Infocity Gandhinagar 382007. Gujarat
http://www.nift.ac.in
December,2022
 INDEX

S.No. Topic Page no.

1 The Brand 2-3
2 Market Research 3-4
3 Assortment Planning 5-8
4 Six-Month Buying Plan 9
5 Understanding Buying Behaviour 10
6 Strategic Fit 11-12

1
MOODBOARD
The dummy brand that we have created for the purpose of assortment planning is called
MoodBoard.
Moodboard provides a wide range of basic pieces in trendy colourways.
We are planning an assortment for the AUTUMN-WINTER-2023-24.
Its store is based in Delhi, Designated space in the Lifestyle department store.

COLOUR ANALYSIS

Colour has the power to set the mood and reveal the emotional states we journey through.WGSN
color forecasting is rather reflective of directional shifts in consumer needs and preferences than
is designed be used as a personal dressing guide or a singular color story.Predicted colors by
WGSN reflect evolving moods one may come to collectively experience and rely on to fulfill
one's emotional needs.The colors are described as “motivational forces” that will help consumers
reconnect with qualities they might have lost sight of during the pandemic, like healing,
discovery, transformation, simplicity and pleasure.
For Fall/Winter 2023/24, WGSN predicts key colors to be galactic blue, sage leaf, astro dust,
digital lavender, and apricot crush that point to optimistic energy about rebuilding and
reconstructing our futures contrasted by calming and healing tones needed to balance the
transition.

DIGITAL LAVENDER
Named as the color of the year for 2023 by WGSN,Digital lavender is a calming and soft lilac
shade that is "soothing" and "restful" balancing assertive fall jewel shades in the palette. It is
predicted to be a stronger focus for knits, loungewear, separates, accessories, and designs.The
color is well suited for virtual beauty filters and digital fashion skins.Lavender was seen on the
catwalk in shows including acne studios,YSL, Carolina Herrera.

APRICOT CRUSH
The color is a step up from soft, mindful pastels to brighter and more invigorating tones.A rich
mid-tone red personifies "a shift toward off-kilter colors that feel intriguing and
forward-looking," WGSN stated It delivers to a sense of renewed motivation, desire to rebuild
and explore, and discovering new frontiers both internally and externally. Astro Dust is both a
commercial and directional color that works across genders. It is said to be a great update for
makeup, outerwear and knitwear.Apricot blush has been across a number of Fall catwalk shows
including Chloe,Gabriela Hearst,Stouls.

GALACTIC COBALT

2
A rich jewel toned shade of blue said to be inspired by transformative and technologically driven
developments in the digital and meta worlds. It points to bold confident attitudes supporting
consumer preferences for assertive expressions. It is predicted to serve in multiple applications
from activewear categories, to jewel tone party dresses, occasion wear, and accessories.Jewel
toned shades of blue were featured heavily on the runway in the latest Fall shows including
Christian Soriano,Fendi, Altuzzara.

SAGE LEAF
A settling shade of green is reflective of consumer need to balance overstimulated lives with
colors that help "reduce anxiety and stress levels in the brain" as WGSN notes. A smart shade for
elevated basics that exudes a sense of refined comfort. It is said to be a color that "instills a sense
of contemplation, rest, and reflection" inspired by spending more time in nature and the outdoors
and rising gardening hobbies. WGSN predicts sage leaf to feature in faux furs, soft knits, brushed
jersey, refined basics, and separates.Shades of green could be seen on the runway in latest shows
of Loewe,Chloe,Derek lam 10 Crosby.

ASTRO DUST
Astro Dust, a mid-tone red that “evokes the dusty and desolate landscape of Mars,” connects to
the international obsession with interplanetary exploration. “As commercialized space travel
evolves and space tourism becomes a reality, colors of the universe will excite and inspire us,”
WGSN stated.Astro Dust signals a shift to “off-kilter” colors that feel ahead of their time, the
gender-inclusive hue is expected to update outerwear, knitwear and makeup. A deep shade of
mid red featured quite heavily across the Fall shows including Paco Rabanne, Prabal Gurung,
and Ulla Johnson.

Retail Analysis: Value Market A/W 22

● According to WGSN, Barometer is a retail consumer intelligence and surveys platform.

Data used was collected across women aged 16–74 in the UK and US from September
and October 2021 and 2022
● As the #CostOfLiving rises, WGSN consumer data confirm shoppers are spending more
in the value market, looking for apparel and gifting options at affordable price points.
The sector has anticipated this shift with earlier Holiday promotions, flexible payments
and cozy merchandise
● Product, assortment or category mix is defined as the proportion of a set of products
over a larger set. An example is the volume of dresses over the whole volume of apparel:
% Dresses within apparel = (volume dresses/volume apparel) *100
● Apparel mix contains the following categories: coats, blouses and woven tops, dresses,
knits and jersey tops, jackets, jumpsuits, skirts, sweaters, shorts, swimwear, trousers and
intimates in the value market

3
 ● The target market for mood boards would be Gen Z. Gen Z is the name given to the
current generation of young people by many demographic researchers. According to the
Pew Research Center, Generation Z consists of people born between 1997 and 2012. The
oldest of this generation are reaching 25 years of age, with many now out of college,
getting married, and starting families.

Style analysis

● Category performance and trends

● Seasonal markdowns and out-of-stocks point to the best and worst-performing categories
across online value retail assortments.
● Sleepwear: sleepwear is the best-performing value retail category in A/W 22, with
current season products having low markdowns and higher OOSs than average. Full-price
products performed well, with 14% of FP going OOS, compared with the 9% apparel
average.
● Socks and hosiery are category winners value retailers should pull back on outerwear:
accounting for the largest category across value retailers we track,
● Outerwear outerwear does not have the performance to back up the volumes, with 40%
of new-season products in markdown tighter edits with fewer SKUs are advised
● Denim:Wider cuts continue to outperform the skinny jean
● Overcoats are available in various value brand stores, and are needed as the season
chosen for our analysis was Autumn-Winter 2023.
● Women’s Accessories, Jewellery & Footwear Forecast A/W 22/23: develop a
long-term product strategy with seasonless designs that can transition. This is a key area
for bags and tackles the need for practicality via creative updates on tested favorites that
can drive resale investment value. Seize the opportunity to innovate around classic
silhouettes or signature items that transcend

MoodBoard Apparel mix

MOODBOARD APPAREL MIX CONTAINS

● Blouses - XS - XL
● Woven tops XS- XL
● Knits XS- XL
● Jersey tops XS- XL
● Dresses XS- XL
● Denim 28, 30, 32, 34, 36, 38, 40

4
 ● Sleepwear XS- XL
● Outerwear -XS_XL
● Socks and hosiery
● Footwear and handbags

Assortment strategy

1. Wide assortment
A wide assortment strategy is used when retailers aim to offer a lot of different product lines or
categories, but with lesser depth in each category. It aims to provide more variety in the types of
product lines offered but does not provide a high number of products in each product line.

For example, a grocery store that provides a lot of different products, but only stocks one or two
brands for each type of product, is employing a wide assortment strategy.

Assortment Planning

Assortment planning is the process of choosing which “assortment” of products to sell during a
certain time period, and how to allot those products between different locations and/or sales
channels to maximize profits.
In other words, assortment planning is about deciding what products to sell and where to sell
them based on seasonality and demand at particular locations.
We are planning an assortment for the AUTUMN-WINTER-2023-24.
Store is based in Delhi, Designated space in the Lifestyle department store.
Demographics:
1. Age- catering to women above 16 years
2. Gender - Female
3. Casual wear, western
Geographics:
1. Tier-1 and tier-2 cities
Psychographic:
1. Western outlook

Seasonal trends:
1. Digital lavender- self-care practices and healing
2. Sage leaf- calming
3. Astro dust- sophisticated, forward-looking
4. Galactic cobalt- bright, impactful
5. Apricot crush- energetic and rejuvenating

5
Assortment Planning goals
● Impact customer experience- providing discounts and services, like store staff assistance
● Attract in first look- good color display plus varieties in design available
● Provide sufficient products: providing with a good quantity of designs and colors
● Good prices- price range from Rs.499- Rs. 1499
● Variations- design, color, sizes

Inventory and price range

Avg. BOM of 6 months- $15,296 (Rs. 12,62,000)
Price Range- $6.05- $18.17 (Rs. 499-1499)
Avg BOM inventory- 1600-2000 pcs

Through this Pie-chart we can see that most of the segment has been covered by Blouses, woven
tops, jersey tops, and knits plus dresses, so we can provide customers with more garments
available on the front display to attract more buyers. (Assumed as per our dummy store)

Planning-

Product Size

6
 XS, S, M, L, XL
Blouses

XS, S, M, L, XL
Woven tops

XS, S, M, L, XL
Knits

XS, S, M, L, XL
jersey tops

XS, S, M, L, XL
Dresses

XS, S, M, L, XL
Denim

-
Socks and Hosiery

-
Footwear and Handbag

Innovativeness of the store merchandise display:

● Merchandise display aspect
1. Cross Merchandising: refers to the merchandise which can be worn complementary
with each other. For example, we can wear a top available in the store and pair it with a
pair of jeans available in the same store itself. This complementary duo helps us shop
for combinations as well as create outfits which look good.
2. Color Blocking: refers to the thought of exploration of colors which are in contrast to
each other and which can be worn together. For example, in our dummy store and
assortment plan, we have chosen the theme after researching and referring to WGSN,
where we can wear the color lavender and beige together, even though both of them are
contrasting in nature.
3. Complementary products kept adjacent: Complementary clothes can be kept
adjacent in a store, so that the customer can shop impulsively and more products can be
sold.

7
 4. Point of Sales (POS): refers to a place where a customer executes the payment for
goods or services, and at these places are kept some products that the customer
can buy on impulse, for eg, perfumes or socks, or scrunchies, jewelry etc.
5. Smart mirrors: smart mirrors are a feature of smart retailing where the mirrors are
technology integrated and tell us about the product that we might have chosen or want
to buy. It also tells us the complementary products that may go with the product that you
have chosen and create an outfit.
6. Promotional Aisle: is a type of retail merchandising tool where the retailer or store
manager keeps all the latest or newly launched collections in front of the store to attract
customers.
7. Gift care packages consisting of bundles (merchandise combos which can be sold
together with scrunchies, etc): these gift care packages or personalized combos are very
much in trend right now. Keeping these small boxes which consist of paired products
from your own store, can help consumers decide what to buy together or gift someone.
8. Plus size mannequins Plus Size Mannequin Dress Forms have the ability to attract the
average person into the shop because they can provide great dressing ideas and
highlight them exactly how they will look on the average build.

● Store aspect
1. Layout- Vertical merchandising: Instead of displaying all the merchandise in the same
way, or in shelves, 4-way rack or straight rack, we can follow the approach of vertical
merchandising where all the merchandise has been displayed vertically and the colors,
designs, variations and the sizes are visible clear;y to the customer. Plus providing them
with a mirror nearby will be a plus point, because every customers checks the fit of the
garment every now and then and might choose more products which are nearby the
mirrors,
2. Faster selling merchandise needs to be displayed better: every brand has some
merchandise which sells better than the other, and these are the points of purchase. The
customer finds this space to be attractive and starts browsing through the products after
coming forward to check the best selling merchandise.
3. Impulse goods near cashier: this has also been referred to as Points of Sale, the
designated space near the cash counter where while waiting during the billing, the
customers tends to buy impulse goods such as socks, lingerie, jewelry, scrunchies etc.

Six Month Buying Plan

8
Six-month Buying plan calculations

● Annual sales of last year- $35,000

● Target increase in sales- 30% more than last year which amounts to $45,000.
● Monthly sales have been calculated by distributing them according to the seasons.
● A monthly Reduction percentage has been assumed and monthly reductions have been
calculated by multiplying the assumed reduction percentage with planned sales.
● Calculation of BOM stock-to-sales ratio:
● In order to calculate the STS ratio, we have assumed the GM% and the GMROI, i.e.,
GM%- 45% and GMROI is- 2
● First, we calculate Sales to stock ratio= GMROI/ GM%=2/45%= 4.4.
● Second, we calculate, Inventory turnover= sales to sales ratio* (1- GM%)= 4.4*(1-45%)=
2.42
● Last, we need to calculate the Stock to sales ratio= 6 months/ Inventory turnover=
6/2.42= 2.47
● After getting the STS ratio, we have assumed that the STS ratio for each month is
approximately near the calculated ratio, i.e., 2.47.
● To calculate BOM inventory, we have multiplied the STS ratio by the BOM STS ratio.
● 7. We need to keep in mind that whenever there is an increase in sales the BOM, and the
STS ratio decrease and vice-versa.
● 8. EOM inventory can be calculated by looking at the BOM of the next month.
● 9. Monthly additions to the stocks have been calculated by adding the planned sale+
monthly reductions EOM inventory- BOM inventory

Understanding of retail buying behavior of consumers

9
Research shows that a typical customer sees only 40% of the merchandise that is displayed.The
job is to grab their attention by using various VM tools.

● Target market: Determines the customers we are aiming for our brand.
● Price range: Customers prefer affordable prices, which fall under their purchasing
capacity.
● Sales/ Discounts Offered: Customers look out for the red tags which display discounts
which are being offered in the store. This is one of the most successful ways to attract a
customer towards the merchandise you are offering.
● Color: Customers are physically drawn to warm color (yellow and red) environments.
● Product display:Product display has been identified as in store stimuli. Purchase
behavior can be modified by the way in which inventory is arranged.
● Music:The impact of loudness on musical preference differed by gender, with females
reacting more adversely than males to louder music.
● Lighting: consumers examined and handled significantly more items under bright
lighting conditions than under soft lighting conditions.

PLANOGRAM

10
The strategic fit between the retailer’s image and the visual retail elements used in the
dummy store are listed below:

1. Reinforcing brand “image” and “values” -”Clearly Demarcated Price sections” to

build brand equity -clear Price labels will be placed at each section to reinforce the
stores “value market” image
2. Use of colorful dress forms and mannequins: mannequins used to style and display
merchandise at the storefront would be solid colors inspired by different themes and
trends followed by the brand.

Store Atmosphere-
1. Color: white background: the white background with a gradient effect will help the
merchandise to pop out in front of the wall. This will help the customers to spot and
choose colors as well as design clearly.
2. Lighting: Focus lighting, capturing the mood of the theme: Focus lighting on the
merchandise helps in beautification of the product. It makes the product look even better
in good light which further helps the customer to choose properly.
3. Scent: according to the theme or which attracts the customers: scent plays a very
important role in attracting customers. Citrusy, lavender, summer breeze, orange all these
scents are really good in terms of enticing potential customers towards your store.
4. Music: related to the theme: As stated in the consumer buying behavior, music also plays
a very important role in a store. If there is no music at all, very few customers will be
interested in shopping at your store, whereas people would enjoy their shopping time
more when they have something to connect to while shopping.

Store Goals-
1. Impact customer experience- providing the customer with good service options and
store staff assistance, discounts and sales
2. Attract in first look- good aesthetic appeal of the store attracts more customers in the
first look itself.
3. Provide good assortment- providing the customers with different types of garments as
well as different types of design, where all the basic sizes are available.
4. Good prices- price range should be according to the customer segment group.
5. Variations- in design, and colors mostly.
6. Avoiding butt brush effect- there should be enough space between aisles as well as the
shelves that the customer can move throughout without butting with another person.
7. Accessible merchandise- merchandise should be easily accessible to the customer, so
that he doesn’t find it too difficult to find anything or else the store might lose their
potential customer.
8. Good visibility of products- visibility of colors, design and sizes should be good.
9. Allow a transition zone- transitioning between different products is really important.

11
 10. Prime location for main fit- the main merchandise, i.e., your best seller should always
be on the front.

All these strategies carried out by retailers or store managers helps them to be efficient as well as
productive and successful.

References:

12
https://retalon.com/blog/assortment-plans#What_is_assortment_planning

https://www.vendhq.com/blog/what-is-a-planogram/

https://www.yourarticlelibrary.com/consumer-behaviour/consumer-buying-behaviour-meaning-pr
ocess-and-types/87244

https://www.shipbob.com/blog/assortment-planning/

https://www.palmerretailsolutions.com/blog/store-design

https://sourcingjournal.com/denim/denim-trends/wgsn-coloro-fall-winter-2023-2024-color-forecas
t-digital-lavender-cobalt-sage-310866/

13