Expert retail planning tips to set your business up for success

If you want to set your retail business up for success, you have to have a secure retail planning process in place. This looks like having the right merchandise available for your customers at the right time. 

To achieve this, you've got to have a stellar retail planning strategy. As you prepare to launch your retail business, whether it be online or brick-and-mortar, you need to consider your retail strategy in terms of financial planning, inventory management, marketing strategies, and other actionable plans. 

In this article, we'll explore why retail planning is so important for your business and give you some tools to help you succeed in a competitive market. 

What is retail planning?

Retail planning is an essential part of retail strategy and involves considering your current financial situation, looking ahead to future sales, and managing inventory. It also includes setting achievable goals for budgeting, advertising, and customer service.

In order to succeed in the retail industry, you need to have a clear understanding of your market and customers. This involves gathering data from surveys or focus groups to determine consumer behaviors and trends that may influence purchasing decisions.

It’s also important to consider factors such as pricing strategies, product placement techniques, promotional campaigns, and different marketing channels that can help increase sales.

Why is retail planning important for my business?

Having a solid retail planning strategy in place before launching your business will help you manage inventory levels and financial goals more effectively while minimizing risks associated with rapid growth in your retail operations.

Retail planning can help you stay organized and efficient in pursuing your business objectives. It allows you to keep track of sales revenue, manage inventory, and set business goals for the future. A successful retail strategy allows you to plan ahead for upcoming seasons or events, reducing guesswork and increasing accuracy in merchandise planning and supply chain availability.

Retail planning also helps you to meet your customer expectations and deliver exceptional customer service. Understanding consumer demand will help you to create an accurate demand forecast and when the time comes, your customers will be delighted with your offerings. 

Retail planning tips

There's a lot that goes into the retail planning process. Making a successful plan may take time, but it will be worth it once you start seeing the results of your thorough planning. Retailers can follow these tips for a smooth retail planning process: 

1. Evaluate the market

Understanding the current market you're entering is important to the success of your retail plan. To go forward with a strategic planning process, you'll need to assess what your competitors are doing, see where you fit into the mix, and then develop your plan accordingly.

Determine your competitors strengths and weaknesses, and then identify opportunities where your retail business can fill gaps in customer need. 

2. Analyze consumer behavior

Getting to know your customers and their needs will help you learn which products to sell and how to sell them. Customer demand will give you a map and direction for where to go with your retail plan.

Analyze your market demographics to see consumers' behaviors and preferences and to understand their motivations and pain points. This will help you to create a plan of action going forward in your retail plan.

3. Set goals and objectives

To make progress in your strategic plan, you'll need some clear external goals and objectives for what you want to achieve. One useful way to set objectives is through the SMART goals model:

• Specific: Set goals that are specific and detailed. Avoid generic objectives. Set real deadlines for yourself.
• Measurable: Make your goal trackable and measurable. Be clear about what you will measure when all is said and done.
• Achievable: Work toward a goal that will make a difference, but still be possible. Don't try to do too much in one go.
• Realistic: Be realistic so that you can achieve your goal. You know what you and your team are capable of. 
• Time-bound: Give yourself a deadline so that you have something to work toward. 

The SMART goals model will help you to develop a detailed plan for retail success and goal setting. 

4. Plan your strategies

Now that you've decided on the objectives for your retail plan, you can begin forming your retail and merchandise planning strategy. This part can be the most time-consuming and detailed because it requires a lot of foresight and consideration as you prepare to get your retail store stocked and functioning. 

Consider your retail merchandising—what products will you be offering? How many different products do you want to offer at a time? How can you group products together to be more successful in your sales? 

Being strategic in your merchandise plans will help you meet demand and optimize your company's finances. 

5. Analyze the success of your plan

After you've finalized your merchandising strategy, there's just one more thing left to do. To really see how your strategies are performing, you've got to collect data and analyze it. After only a few days, you can look at the stats of your retail performance to see if any adjustments need to be made to your strategy. 

Your business performance should be monitored closely, especially at first. This will allow you to control your merchandise in a way that optimizes your retail businesses' performance. Once your sales strategy plays out, take a look at the bigger picture to see how your strategies played out.

Invest in clienteling software to help with retail planning

To make the retail planning process easier, there are  helpful tools available built specifically for retailers.  

Clientbook is a clienteling software that helps you form long-term relationships with your customers, collect data about their preferences, and understand what they want in their consumer journey. To successfully make a retail planning strategy, you need to have data about your client base. 

Read through the top 25 retail stats every retailer should know

Clientbook makes this possible. All client information is stored in one place, including wishlists, preferences, and purchase history. Keep your finger on the buyer's journey through Clientbook's software and anticipate the needs of your customers and potential customers in your retail planning efforts.

Book a demo today to see how Clientbook can optimize your strategic planning process.