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FIVE STAGES OF MERCHANDISE MIX MANAGEMENT STAGE 1: WHERE YOU WERE PRE-COVID 19 STAGE 2: RE-OPENING MIX
STAGE 3: THE NEXT PHASE
STAGE 4: “WHEW! NOW WE CAN GET BACK TO NORMAL!”
STAGE 5: THE NEW NORMAL?
AND NOW, YOUR BIG PICTURE THINKING Experienced retailers know this instinctively. We offer these charts (which are not based on any specific operation or numbers, or timeline) as an example of how you might quickly bring other folks up to speed with the changes you must be making. And we hope it might inspire you to make your own "Big Picture" charts. Remember, no specific numbers, no definite timetables. Just Big Picture ideas: What might your merchandise mix look like at each of these five stages? Nobody knows your business better than you. Get cracking!!
Just this morning we saw yet another article speculating about the staying power of online shopping, in this instance, grocery shopping.
Of course, it's not just media pundits who are looking for answers to this question about online versus in-store shopping. Retailers are living with this issue, and they have to make decisions.
This is the time of year when most retailers are scheduled to take their annual physical inventory count. Along with that comes the interruption of daily lives, very serious attitudes of bookkeepers and accountants, and, of course, extra expenses. Oh yes, those! Typically, preparing for and taking the item-by-item count involves a lot of emphasis on "Make sure to count everything. We don't want to miss anything!" This often-loud focus is true whether the counting is done manually, by scanning, or any other means. "We must count it all!" Okay, but why? Why is it so darn important to count every last fish hook or candy bar or tube of lipstick?!
It helps to know why.
It’s very common for retailers to have their fiscal year end be January 31. It’s after the Holiday season, and inventories are generally low.
Likewise, it’s also very common that retailers are taking (or having a service take) physical inventory this weekend or soon thereafter.
As we all know, counting inventory by hand is tedious, boring, expensive and, frankly, no fun at all. However, whether by hand, by barcode, by any method of technology, the inventory count matters, and it matters a lot!
Let’s review the Big Picture for this business doing $700,000 in revenue, with $290,000 in total operating expenses.
"As tariffs threaten to raise prices, a potentially existential question is facing retailers: How much inventory is too much or too little in such an uncertain environment—and is it worth squirreling away a little extra if higher costs are on the horizon?" *
That’s the question posed by Alex Vuocolo in the May 21, 2025 Retail Brew.
That vexing issue of “how much inventory is too much?” is not new to retailers, of course. But the volatility of the tariffs being imposed by the current administration are a significant complication.
Managing inventory – arguably the #1 responsibility of a retailer – has been beset by a host of new and sometimes daunting challenges since 2020. The last few months of 2022 only made matters worse. As supply chain issues seemed to subside, foreboding talk of a recession dominated, dampening customer spending. Many retailers are feeling a bit over-inventoried as a result. Similar to that sense of having a few added pounds after the holidays. In other words, a situation that is crying out for perspective. And The ROI has you covered on that!
Alas, there is really no way to avoid discussing COVID-19, the coronavirus that began in China last month, and now continues to spread throughout the world. No matter whether or when it is officially declared a "pandemic," the uncertainty and angst that it is generating have troubling implications for retailers.
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