what are the steps involved in retail planning process

The 7 Important Steps Retail Planning Process you Should know

• 7 Steps involved in Retail Planning Process
• #1 Set objectives Setting Objectives is important for the success of the business. ...
• #2 Analysis of the market After the objective for the organization is defined. ...
• #3 Analysis of Customers ...
• #4 Frame Retail Strategies ...
• #5 Strategic Short-term Planning ...
• #6 Implementation of the Strategies ...
• #7 Analyzing the performance of the strategies ...

Full Answer

What is retail planning?

In the retail planning process, a retailer decides about the planning strategies of the retail business, learn about the competition in the market, and create and implement strategies accordingly. Retail planning is crucial for every retail business. Otherwise, you will always find yourself to dilemma while making decisions for your store.

How to stay ahead in the retail industry?

You need to prepare effective retail strategies to stay ahead in the game of retailing. Work on various elements such as the location of the store, pricing policy, merchandise assortment, advertisement, customer service, etc. for example, you can attract customers by offering good quality of products at lower prices than your competitors or central location of the store can be a key element to attract more customers.

What is the most important activity in retail planning?

Analysis of customers is the most important activity of the retail planning process. You can’t simply like a product, design it and throw in the market and expect customers to buy it and like it.

Why is customer analysis important?

Customers analysis helps the organization to innovate and create services to satisfy its customers and retain them for a long period. Hence, you avoid the chances of getting out of fashion as you keep updating your strategies with the changing demands and requirements of customers.

What is the final step in a strategy?

Once you have decided strategies, the final step is to implement those strategies and control them. In this step, you will also check whether your strategies are working or not and how much they have helped in boosting the sales.

Why is it important for retailers to set annual objectives?

Therefore, it is important for a retailer to set annual objectives to ensure success and to measure it.

What should be prepared for market strategies?

The market strategies should be prepared based on kind of products sold in your store or the segmentation of the market you are dealing with.

What Is Strategic Planning in Retailing?

So, let’s begin by understanding what strategic planning in retailing actually means.

7 Steps in Strategic Retail Planning Process

The journey of the strategic retail planning process starts with self-analysis to understand that where your business stands right now. After having a clear picture of where you are currently you need to focus on where you want to reach, i.e., set clear goals for your business.

FAQs

Examples of strategic planning in retail Some of the best examples are examples of strategic retail planning are creating a festive-themed storefront, designing a social media campaign to promote discounts that drive your potential customers to the store. Other examples are training your employees to adapt to new technologies and strategies.

1. Set objectives

Setting objectives is critical to the business's growth. It is not appropriate for a company's target to be to increase profits. A company can follow several goals simultaneously, such as market growth in a year, sales creation, and new product lines. Both of the objectives mentioned above are geared toward increasing revenue.

2. Analysis of the market

Following the definition of the organization's goal. The next step is to assess the current state of the industry you want to join.

3. Analysis of Customers

The most critical task in the retail preparation phase is consumer analysis. You can't just like a thing, develop it, and put it on the market, expecting people to purchase it and like it.

4. Frame Retail Strategies

Following that, you should plan your business strategy for marketing positioning and retail mix after you've agreed on critical goals and heard about the consumer environment and consumers' needs.

5. Strategic Short-term Planning

The retailer must then consider and prepare short-term strategies for expanding their market. Using tactic ads and promotion campaigns, for example, you will draw more shoppers to your shop during the holiday season.

6. Implementation of the Strategies

Since you've agreed on plans, the next move is to put them into action and keep track of them. In this stage, you'll also assess if your tactics are effective and how much they've contributed to increased revenue.

7. Analyzing The Performance Of The Strategies

The execution of plans is just the beginning of your career. You should examine its results and determine where you had the most difficulty and what problems you had. Learn from them and apply what you've learned in your future action preparation.

What is an objective around sales?

For example, an objective around sales could be expressed by total revenue, total units, or YOY (year over year) growth .

What is tactical plan?

Tactical plans are the short-term actions the firm takes to affect the controllable elements of the strategy. For example, if a firm has the objective to “grow category sales by 4% by increasing merchandising and promotional activity,” a relevant tactic might be to plan robust promotional activity in key seasons.

How does introducing new flavors and regional brands inform the organization?

For example, while we could raise prices or reduce product costs or eliminate marketing expenses to increase profit by $150k, the inclusion of “by introducing new flavors and regional brands” informs the organization how the objective is to be met. And, in doing so, we understand that there is value in changing our assortment to provide more variety and popular local items for shoppers. Thus, there’s little room for confusion about what’s important. In this case, it is likely the shopper experience, reflected in variety and local products. Thus, the firm helps the broader organization focus on the activities that support the strategic opportunity and gives it meaning.

What is situational analysis?

Situational Analysis. Situational analysis helps decision-makers in the firm understand what to do and how to do it. At its most basic level, it’s a multi-dimensional consideration of the context (the environment in which we’ll compete), organizational capabilities, customer, and competition.

What is implementation and control?

Implementation and control refers to how the firm puts its strategic plan into place, including how it organizes cross-functionally and communicates priorities. Further, it also includes how the firm tracks progress toward its objectives, measuring performance so that adjustments can be made, if necessary. Certainly, a firm is responsible for managing its controllable variables. But, robust monitoring and control systems help firms react and adjust to uncontrollable variable like changes to the business environment or specific competitive activity.

What is strategic planning?

Strategic planning is a formal process, marked by specific activities that support the building of a marketing plan. The actions ensure that the entire organization is aligned on strategic priorities by: Multiple Choice Question. Doing a competitive analysis to understand the unique proposition of the competition.

What are the steps of retail strategy planning?

Thus, it is marked by specific activities in which firms engage to build a marketing plan, ensuring that the entire organization is aligned on strategic priorities. The actions included in strategic planning are: Objective Setting. Situational Analysis.

What is step 3 in retail planning?

Step 3 in the strategic retail planning process is identifying strategic opportunities. Namely, those that can help you increase sales. For instance, maybe PDX crafts can have a cool new look to its store to differentiate itself from competitors and to place its wares in a funky way that appeals to the Portland market.

What is the first step in strategic retail planning?

The store sells all sorts of unique, locally-made arts and crafts. The very first step in your strategic retail planning process is to define the business mission. In other words, describe what your broad objectives are going to be and what activities you're going to engage in. To help you craft the business mission statement you can answer a few questions, such as:

What is the mission of PDX Crafts?

For instance, your business mission statement for PDX Crafts could be something like 'The mission of PDX Crafts is to be the leading retailer of unique arts and crafts made by Portland artisans to the Portland market and generate revenues of at least $500,000 per year '.

What is the process of selling a product in order to make a profit called?

You're obviously going to have to figure out your target market, right? And then how best to sell your wares, correct? Well, the steps a retailer takes in order to figure out how best to sell a product in order to make a profit is known as the strategic retail planning process.

How many steps are there in a retail strategy?

Very generally, we can see it as composed of seven steps. These steps need not be part of every strategic retail plan but they are a good guideline as to what should be considered nonetheless.

What is step 4 in a business plan?

Step 4 is the evaluation of strategic opportunities. By evaluating your strategic opportunities, you'll be better able to gauge how you can gain an edge over your competitors. In order to do this, focus on what your strength and advantages are and see if these factors are part of the opportunities you are evaluating. Maybe you're not all that great at designing cool-looking stores? Or, maybe you have an amazing interior designer with a background in sales as well who is on your team.

What is step 5 in a mission statement?

Don't confuse this with the general objectives you may have outlined for your mission statement. For step 5, each specific objective is a way by which you can measure your progress. This means each objective should include: