Now is the time to think about how you'll manage your expenses in the coming year. If you're NOT thinking about it, you should be. This is something you can't afford to ignore.

Managing expenses in the upcoming year is going to be a make or break activity for retailers - no matter what happens to the economy. The more intelligent planning you do, the further ahead of the game you'll be. My recommendation is to start "Open To Buy Planning" .

Running an "Open to Buy Plan" for your store is the most important expense management tool any retailer can have. Why? Because your inventory is your biggest expense and probably your biggest asset. Too much inventory means either high markdowns and low/no profits, or you don't have money to pay your vendors. At a time of flat or decreasing sales, this is a short path to closing your doors.

On the other hand, too little inventory means you don't have the merchandise that your customers want - a sure way to send them to your competition! Losing customers to your competitors because of merchandise you should have had in stock but didn't, is a longer path but it eventually leads to the same destination - closing your doors.

To be successful, you need the right amount of the right stuff at the right time. That is what an Open to Buy Plan will help you achieve. Our CounterPoint Software has a excellent, easy to use Open To Buy (budgeted or planned) Purchasing module.  Contact us to discus how you can add this to your operations.