Fairchild Media Group-WWD, Sourcing Journal, Footwear News, and Beauty Inc.-published a Retail Innovation 2021 report for insights into the solutions, strategies, and tactics transforming retail. Here is a syndicated article from the report, which includes Madeleine Streets' interview with Jeff Warren, VP of strategy and solution management at Oracle Retail, about the importance of a reliable retail assortment plan.

As the landscape continues to change, offering the right product at the right price has become more challenging than ever.
Assortment planning has always been a critical piece of the retail journey, connecting products with the right vendor-and eventually the end consumer. The goal is clear: To choose the best products for your website to maximize sales and profit. But achieving this requires a more thoughtful approach, one that takes advantage of technology to support business strategy.

The stakes are high, so establishing a successful assortment planning system should be a top priority. When things run smoothly, retailers can take full advantage of their available inventory space and fulfill orders quickly and efficiently; this not only results in consistent sales but also encourages repeat business due to customer satisfaction. When things go wrong, retailers will quickly see the damage to their bottom line.

"And in retail, a markdown equals a mistake. Just the slightest margin of error can have a dramatic impact on the margin of the business-and that could be the difference between a successful season or not."