Merchandising Planning
Merchandising planning is the process by which apparel brands set financial guardrails, build seasonal assortments, manage size curves, and plan carry-over decisions. In most mid-market brands, these processes live in separate spreadsheets that require days of reconciliation before every buy review. RetailNorthstar connects OTB, assortment, size planning, and demand forecasting in a single data model — so the plan is always current and every decision cascades automatically.
What Merchandising Planning covers
Connected to the full planning workflow
Creative line plans and visual boards feed product decisions into the merchandising workflow.
OTB, assortment, size curves, and seasonal planning as one connected plan.
Merchandising decisions flow directly into structured buy plans, PO generation, and vendor execution.
Explore Merchandising Planning in depth
Assortment Planning
Build seasonal assortments aligned to financial guardrails and connected to your OTB budget.
OTB Planning
Set open-to-buy budgets that cascade through assortment, buy, and receipt planning.
Merchandising Planning
The full merchandising planning solution — from financial targets to buy execution.
Seasonal Planning
Manage pre-season setup, in-season adjustments, and carry-over decisions in one workflow.
Merchandising planning questions
How does OTB connect to assortment automatically?
In RetailNorthstar, OTB budgets and assortment plans share the same data model. When you set an OTB budget by department, channel, and season, the assortment plan inherits those constraints automatically. Every style you add to the assortment is checked against the OTB ceiling in real time — no manual reconciliation spreadsheet required.
Can I manage size curves from historical sell-through?
Yes. RetailNorthstar analyzes prior-season sell-through data at the size level and generates recommended size curves for each style or category. You can accept the recommendation, adjust it manually, or override it entirely. The system learns from each season to improve future size recommendations.
How does carry-over analysis work?
Carry-over analysis in RetailNorthstar compares continuing styles against new introductions using sell-through velocity, margin contribution, and inventory position. The system flags styles that are candidates for carry-over and shows the financial impact of keeping versus dropping each one — so you make the decision with full context, not gut feel.
See OTB, assortment, and buy planning connected in one workflow.
Book a live demo and see how RetailNorthstar connects merchandising planning from financial targets to buy execution.