What is Merchmix Core?

Core is the planning and trading engine in Merchmix, a merchandising and inventory operating system with intelligence at its core. It covers budget, merchandise financial planning, WSSI and open to buy, assortment and range planning, the trading and marketing calendar, continuity and trade review, on one plan with intelligence reading every stage.

How is Core different from a planning spreadsheet?

A spreadsheet holds one stage. Core holds the whole cycle, so a change in the budget is visible in open to buy, a change in the range is visible in intake, and the trade review writes back to the plan rather than into a separate deck.

Do we have to use every part of Core?

No. Teams usually start with the stage that hurts most, commonly WSSI or assortment planning, and add the others as they go. The value grows as the loop closes, but it does not require the loop to be complete on day one.

Where does the AI sit?

Underneath all of it. Merchmix Intelligence reads every stage of Core rather than running as a separate assistant, which is why it can rank findings by the value at stake and show the evidence behind them.

What is the difference between Core and Core Plus?

Core plans and trades the season. Core Plus executes it: allocation, replenishment and visual merchandising, getting the plan into stores.

Can we see it on our own data?

Yes. The six-week proof of concept runs Core on your own history and your own plan.

CORE · PLANNING & TRADING

One plan, all the way
through the season.

Core is where the season is planned, bought and traded. Budget through to trade review on one set of numbers, with intelligence reading every stage rather than sitting in a separate tool.

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01 · MERCHMIX INTELLIGENCE

Intelligence underneath, not bolted on.

Every stage in Core runs on the same intelligence layer. It reads the plan, the trade and the supply base together, ranks what needs attention by the value at stake, and shows the evidence behind each call. Where the data cannot support a measure, it says so rather than reporting a number nobody should trust. Recommends turns those signals into scenarios a team can compare, and agents carry the routine work between them. Nothing here decides for you. It gets the decision in front of the person who should make it, with the working shown.

Ranked by value.

The largest exposure at the worst margin comes first, not the loudest alert.

Evidence attached.

Every finding carries the numbers behind it, so it can be argued with.

Scenarios, not answers.

Recommends models the options and the risk on each, and records the decision taken.

Agents in the workflow.

Routine checks and handoffs run without anyone remembering to run them.

Merchmix Intelligence briefing ranking findings by value with the evidence behind each one

HOW IT CONNECTS

Intelligence reads every stage of Core, so a signal in the plan shows up against the trade it affects rather than in a separate report.

See Merchmix Intelligence →See Merchmix Recommends →

02 · BUDGET BUILDER

Set the frame before anyone buys.

Topline budget down to department and category, with marketing spend planned against the same calendar. The budget is not a spreadsheet that gets superseded in week three. It is the frame every later stage is measured against, so when open to buy tightens in June it is visible against what was agreed in January.

Topline to category.

Sales, margin and intake set at every level of the hierarchy.

Marketing spend in the same plan.

Campaign budget planned where the trading budget lives.

Last year and last plan.

Every number carries what it is being changed from.

Locked and versioned.

A signed-off budget stays as the reference when the plan moves.

Budget Builder workspace with topline, department and category budgets

See Budget Builder →

03 · MERCHANDISE FINANCIAL PLANNING

The numbers that hold the season together.

Merchandise financial planning, weekly stock and sales control, and open to buy on one grid. Sales, intake, markdown, stock and cover move together, so a change in one week reprices the rest of the season rather than sitting in a cell on its own. Open to buy is a live number, not a figure someone recalculates on a Friday.

Weekly WSSI.

Sales, intake, markdown, closing stock and cover by week.

Open to buy, live.

What is still committable, recalculated as the plan moves.

Phasing that holds.

Change a week and the season reflows rather than breaking.

Plan against actual.

Every line carries plan, actual and last year side by side.

Weekly stock, sales and intake grid with trend lines and open to buy

See MFP and WSSI →

04 · ASSORTMENT & RANGE PLANNING

Fill the plan with an actual range.

Option plan sets how many options each category needs and what they must deliver. Range plan fills them, style by style, against those requirements. Range boards make the range visible so it can be signed off on what it looks like as well as what it adds up to. Size analysis sets the curve from real trading weeks rather than a default. Cross costings compare quotes and land the cost before the order is placed.

Carry, cull, create.

Every option in next season's range is one of the three, and the plan shows which.

Range boards for sign-off.

The range seen as a range, not as rows.

Size curves from real weeks.

Peak trading dates chosen by the planner, not assumed.

Cross costings.

Quotes compared and landed cost settled before commitment.

Range plan workspace with size level buy quantities, landed cost and budget against plan

See assortment and range planning →

05 · MARKETING & TRADING CALENDAR

Phase it against what the customer will see.

Trading calendar, marketing calendar and business calendar in one view. Launches, promotions, campaign spend and key trading weeks sit against the plan they affect, so the week a category is planned to peak is the week it is being marketed. Teams stop planning to different dates.

One calendar, three views.

Trading, marketing and business dates on the same timeline.

Promotions against the plan.

Every promotion sits on the weeks it will move.

Channel by channel.

Activity planned by channel, not as one undifferentiated spend.

Visible to everyone.

Buying, planning and marketing working to the same dates.

Promotional calendar with campaigns and trading weeks on one timeline

See the marketing and trading calendar →

06 · CONTINUITY

Core lines are planned, not assumed.

Continuity lines do not follow the seasonal rhythm and should not be planned as if they do. Core plans them on their own cycle, by individual style, season code or group, with their own phasing and replenishment logic, so the lines that quietly carry the business get the same attention as the ones that get the range board.

By style, code or group.

Plan continuity at whatever level the business runs it.

Its own phasing.

Continuity demand planned separately from seasonal peaks.

Carried across seasons.

A core line's history follows it rather than resetting.

Feeds replenishment.

Continuity plans drive the replenishment model, not a separate file.

Continuity metrics with core lines planned on their own cycle

See continuity planning →

07 · PRODUCT REVIEW

The week closes, and the plan updates.

Weekly through seasonal trade review in one workflow. Best and worst sellers with imagery, trade drilled down through the hierarchy, competitor movement, and the actions taken written back against the plan they came from. The Monday briefing is compiled and delivered before anyone logs in. Decisions taken in the review update the plan they came from, so the next week starts where the last one finished.

Four cadences, one workflow.

Weekly, monthly, quarterly and seasonal review.

Chase, exit, review.

Actions recorded against styles, not in someone's notes.

Competitor movement.

Assortment volume, pricing and markdown activity tracked automatically.

Written back to the plan.

The review is not a report, it is the next version of the plan.

Trade drill down through the product hierarchy with performance by level

See product review →

The loop that closes.

Core is one cycle, not seven tools. The budget frames the season, MFP holds it in numbers, the range fills it, the calendar phases it, continuity carries the lines that run all year, and the trade review closes the week and writes back to the plan it came from. Intelligence reads every stage of that cycle, which is why it can tell you a supplier is at risk before the order is placed and a category is short before the customer notices. What comes out of Core goes to Core Plus to be allocated, to Beacon to be ordered, and to Horizon ERP to be recorded.

“We can action replenishments instantly without waiting for end of week reports or manual uploads. High performing stores never miss out on top sellers, and we catch slow movers early, reducing markdowns and improving availability.”

Curtis Whitfield

Retail Manager, Melbourne Australia

One plan, all the way through the season.