Athleticwear chain Finish Line has enlisted the help of Columbus Consulting to design and test business processes for the retailer’s new merchandise financial planning and assortment strategy solutions.
Headquartered in Indianapolis, Finish Line has about 950 locations, primarily in US malls and Macy’s department stores, along with its online presence.
To better manage planning for the multi-channel business, the retailer needed to deploy new business processes and technologies to replace its existing spreadsheet solutions.
“We hit the ground running with the implementation of the new technology solutions here at Finish Line, and we are taking important steps to update our merchandising processes,” explains Brad Eckhart, senior vice president, planning and allocation at Finish Line.
“The implementation of a merchandise financial planning system is the first step in a multi-phased merchandising systems roadmap.”
The first phase of the two-stage project, completed in October, encompassed all aspects of merchandise financial planning, including strategic planning, pre-season financial planning, in-season forecasting and open-to-buy management. Upgrading these solutions and processes centralises data and provides Finish Line with one version of the truth, enabling better communication across the organisation.
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By GlobalDataMeanwhile, the second phase of the project, scheduled to be completed this spring, includes store planning and grading, key item planning and assortment strategy. These new capabilities will allow Finish Line to plan deeper in assortment, better control logistics and profitability, increase visibility across the business, and improve its merchandise presentation and assortment across stores.
“Ultimately these technology improvements and new processes will sharpen Finish Line’s focus on our customers and lay the foundation for our ultimate goal of assortment plans by location,” adds Eckhart.
