Finish Line takes merchandise planning global
Finish Line is now positioned to localize product assortments chainwide.
The athletic footwear and apparel retailer added the TXT Retail Merchandise Planning Solution, a platform that will manage merchandise financial planning across its 950 locations in the United States and its digital channels. Overall, the solution will enable Finish Line to set global targets for all products, brands and channels they serve, and make buying decisions based on expected customer demand.
The first phase of the Finish Line deployment, which was completed in October 2017, included all aspects of merchandise financial planning, including strategic planning, preseason financial planning, in-season forecasting and open-to-buy management. This roll-out established one version of the truth across its organization and created a starting point for assortment plans by location.
Now as the buying season progresses, the solution will help the company to easily simulate buying scenarios and make course corrections — processes that will help it meet margin and inventory investment targets. The application also supports collaborative planning with key vendors.
During the next project phase, Finish Line is focusing on store planning and clustering, key item planning, and assortment strategy to create customer-focused assortments that meet localized demand.
"By partnering with TXT Retail, Finish Line has advanced our merchandising processes to better serve our customers," said Brad Eckhart, senior VP, planning and allocation, Finish Line.
"The use of TXT Retail's industry-leading solution supports our objective to provide seamless customer experiences and the best, localized product selection to our shoppers,” he added. “At the same time, we have optimized our inventory investment to deliver the most profitable product mixes."
The athletic footwear and apparel retailer added the TXT Retail Merchandise Planning Solution, a platform that will manage merchandise financial planning across its 950 locations in the United States and its digital channels. Overall, the solution will enable Finish Line to set global targets for all products, brands and channels they serve, and make buying decisions based on expected customer demand.
The first phase of the Finish Line deployment, which was completed in October 2017, included all aspects of merchandise financial planning, including strategic planning, preseason financial planning, in-season forecasting and open-to-buy management. This roll-out established one version of the truth across its organization and created a starting point for assortment plans by location.
Now as the buying season progresses, the solution will help the company to easily simulate buying scenarios and make course corrections — processes that will help it meet margin and inventory investment targets. The application also supports collaborative planning with key vendors.
During the next project phase, Finish Line is focusing on store planning and clustering, key item planning, and assortment strategy to create customer-focused assortments that meet localized demand.
"By partnering with TXT Retail, Finish Line has advanced our merchandising processes to better serve our customers," said Brad Eckhart, senior VP, planning and allocation, Finish Line.
"The use of TXT Retail's industry-leading solution supports our objective to provide seamless customer experiences and the best, localized product selection to our shoppers,” he added. “At the same time, we have optimized our inventory investment to deliver the most profitable product mixes."