Does Merchmix replace our PLM?

No. Merchmix plans the shape and the buy, then works alongside your PLM for product development detail.

Can we keep our existing hierarchy and retail calendar?

Yes. Option plans are built against your own department, category and subcategory structure and your own retail calendar.

What happens to the range plan spreadsheets we run now?

They stop being the source of truth. Plans can still be exported to Excel for offline work and supplier conversations.

Can buyers still override the recommended option counts?

Yes. Every recommendation is a starting point. Buyers set the target, and the variance against recommendation stays visible.

Can we build a size curve from a specific past season?

Yes. Pick the year, the season and the trading weeks, including peak periods, and build the curve from that history rather than a rolling average.

How does the approved buy reach our ERP?

Supplier groups are pushed from Range Plan to your connected ERP, with operational status tracked back on every line.

Assortment Planning Software

OPTION PLAN

Set the option count
before the range gets crowded.

Ranges get crowded quietly. A few extra options per subcategory, repeated across a season, and the money is committed before anyone has counted. Option Plan sets the number the season actually needs, holds the split between continuity, seasonal and fashion, and shows how far each subcategory sits from what your own trade supports.

Option architecture

Total options per subcategory, split across continuity, seasonal and fashion. Variance against recommendation shows on every line, with recommended counts drawn from LY and LY-1 trade.

Monthly stagger

Phase drops month by month, with front load, back load, even split or match LY as starting points. Each cell opens on last year's performance for that month before anything changes.

Carry, cull, create

Rank last season's styles on gross profit and weeks of cover, decide what repeats and what drops, and see the options still to be built to reach target.

Approvals

Commercial notes per subcategory, an approval status and a full history. The plan is the gate, and it moves to Range Plan only once it is signed.

MERCHMIX AI

Recommended option counts per subcategory drawn from LY and LY-1 trade, variance against target on every line, and drafted commercial notes when the plan goes for approval.

HOW IT CONNECTS

Option Plan takes its target from Budget Builder and hands approved option counts to Range Plan, which turns them into styles and a buy.

What is assortment planning and how does it work?

RANGE PLAN

Commit the buy
while the budget is still in view.

The moment a range plan leaves the platform it stops being true. Range Plan holds cost, RRP, margin and size breakdown on every line, with open to buy moving as the buy is committed. Nothing reaches a purchase order until the numbers stand up.

Style level buy

Units, landed cost, RRP and first margin per style, with total buy value recalculated as quantities change.

Size breakdown

Buy split by size on every line, so the ratio is settled before the order goes anywhere near a supplier.

Budget control

Committed buy tracked against open to buy, with remaining headroom visible and lines flagged where detail is incomplete.

ERP handoff

Group the range by supplier and push to your connected ERP. PO raised and delivered status tracks back against every line.

MERCHMIX AI

Analyses the whole range plan and returns insights, actions and risks, with order recommendations and supplier evaluations, and the evidence behind each one.

HOW IT CONNECTS

Range Plan takes approved option counts from Option Plan and sends the committed buy to your ERP, with intake feeding WSSI.

What is open to buy and how does it work?

SIZE ANALYSIS

Buy the size curve
for the weeks you are planning for.

An annual size curve is an average of two different businesses. Peak weeks sell a different shape to quiet ones. Size Analysis builds the curve from the year, season and trading weeks you choose, so a launch is bought on launch behaviour rather than a rolling average.

Source period

Any year and season, narrowed to a week range. Isolate peak trading or exclude the markdown tail so the curve reflects the right weeks.

Mix variance

Sales mix against stock mix for every size, with the largest gap named and the size to prioritise called out.

Cover and timing

Target weeks cover, forecast weeks remaining and weeks to next order, modelled live and saved as a scenario when worth keeping.

Size templates

Separate grids per category, so footwear and dresses each work to their own size set rather than one grid across the business.

MERCHMIX AI

Names the size furthest out of balance and the quantity that corrects it, then carries that straight into the order.

HOW IT CONNECTS

Size Analysis splits the Range Plan buy across the curve, and the same curve carries into store level allocation.

What is size curve optimisation?

CROSS COSTINGS

Know the real cost
before you award.

Costing usually happens in a spreadsheet, in three currencies, after the range is already set. Cross Costings consolidates demand into one brief, normalises every quote to a comparable cost, and holds the margin target while bids come in. The awarded cost lands back on the range.

Procurement briefs

Demand across styles consolidated into a single costed brief, with specification and target cost set before it goes out.

Multi-currency

Quotes normalised to one comparable cost, so suppliers quoting in different currencies are judged on the same basis.

Margin guardrails

Target cost held as bids arrive, with the delta against target visible on every brief.

Award states

Draft, building demand, in market, ready to award and awarded, so everyone can see where each brief sits.

HOW IT CONNECTS

Cross Costings prices the volume Range Plan and Size Analysis have settled, and the awarded cost lands back on the range margin.

See how suppliers work in Merchmix

RANGE BOARDS

See the whole range
before you commit the money.

A range signed off as a spreadsheet is signed off blind. Range Boards puts every style on one board with its price, buy and supplier, and shows where the price ladder is thin or crowded while there is still time to change it.

Visual review

Styles laid out from a wide overview down to detail, so leadership and buying can review the same board at different depths.

Price architecture

Opening, core and statement price bands across the group, showing where the range is thin or crowded at each price point.

Supplier concentration

How much of the range sits with any one supplier, visible before the buy is committed rather than after.

Commercial context

Unit buy and valuation on every style card, so the review is a commercial conversation and not only a visual one.

MERCHMIX AI

Board level insights across the whole range, read against the styles, prices and suppliers already on it.

HOW IT CONNECTS

Range Boards is the last look before the buy is committed. Approved styles flow into purchase orders and on into allocation.

See how the plan trades week by week

“Our investors pushed hard on working capital. Merchmix exposed slow movers to exit early and guided what to chase. We unlocked cash without sacrificing revenue, and had an extra 5 million OTB to chase back into best sellers.”

Helen Carpenter

Head of Ecommerce, Fira Mae, France

One plan that carries into trade.

Option targets constrain the buy, the buy feeds WSSI, and the size curve carries into allocation.

Approval history

Sign-off and commercial notes held against every plan.

From option count to purchase order, in one workspace.