Boston Retail Partners 2016 Merchandise Planning Survey

Retail strives to deliver on the promise of unified commerce.

However, planning organizations are hampered by a lack of system, process and organization integration to support the desired goals.

Boston Retail Partners’ 2016 Merchandise Planning Benchmark Survey explores current conditions and identifies practical ideas and opportunities needed for retailers to fully implement an omni-channel strategy.

Notable findings include:

• 71% of retailers do not have a formal omni-channel demand planning process
• 82% of retailers offer different assortments across channels
• 65% have plans to upgrade their merchandise planning systems while 50% plan to upgrade their allocation planning solution

While a majority of retailers recognize the importance of a synchronized retail merchandise, planning, allocation and store replenishment process many have yet to implement a unified approach across all channels.

How does your planning process measure up?