Merchandise Planning Software
Maximise every sale opportunity with your stock in the right place, at the right time, and at the right price.
From optimising inventory and improving sales forecasting accuracy to allocating stock more efficiently, Futura helps retailers balance availability, demand, and profitability.
By integrating our retail planning software into your core operations, your business can achieve a more connected and data-driven approach to retail planning that balances supply and demand. With our advanced budgeting, forecasting, and replenishment tools, you can achieve greater financial control, hit your merchandise financial planning targets, and reduce excess stock while avoiding missed sales opportunities due to understocking.
Core Features of the Futura Merchandise Planning Platform
Take the guesswork out of buying and stocking with our enterprise-grade retail merchandise planning software - designed to help you manage your inventory as a financial asset while retailing the flexibility to react quickly to changing demand:
Take the guesswork out of buying and stocking with our enterprise-grade retail merchandise planning software – designed to help you manage your inventory as a financial asset while retailing the flexibility to react quickly to changing demand:
Single Source of Truth
Centralise all stock and sales data to ensure data-driven decisions from head office planning through to instore execution.
Workflow Automation
Streamline your workflow from initial budget to final markdown, increasing team productivity.
Budgeting & OTB
Align purchasing with financial targets using real-time performance data.
Markdown Management
Tie markdowns directly to profitability and financial outcomes, clearing slow-moving lines while protecting your bottom line.
Supplier Performance
Evaluate vendor reliability to strengthen future buying decisions and improve supply chain resilience.
A Data-Driven Retail Planning Solution for Modern Business
To thrive in a multi-channel environment, you need a retail planning solution that prioritises data-driven decisions. Futura goes beyond basic spreadsheets to offer a comprehensive merchandise planning and allocation software that aligns your inventory optimisation with your broader financial goals.
By centralising your data, our platform ensures that your omnichannel strategy – from the high street to the web – is supported by a single, accurate view of stock and demand. This means your team can react quickly to sales trends, adjust plans mid-season, and keep stock moving to the right locations to reduce excess stock and avoid tying up capital unnecessarily in underperforming lines.Â
Budgeting, Open-to-Buy, and Financial Planning
Our merchandise financial planning module provides the deep financial oversight required for modern retail, helping businesses manage their profitability with precision. With effective budgeting, your stock holdings can align perfectly with customer demand while still maintaining strict financial control.Â
Our Open-to-Buy (OTB) planning tools allow you to:
- Set and Adjust Budgets: Manage stock levels based on real-time sales performance through continuous planning, rather than fixed seasonal plans that quickly become outdated.
- Prevent Imbalances: Eliminate the risk of overstocking and costly stock shortages through in-season adjustments driven by actual performance.
- Strategic Allocation: Distribute purchasing budgets effectively across categories, stores, and sales channels to hit specific financial goals and support local demand patterns.
With top-down planning, retailers can set high-level strategic targets while maintaining the flexibility to make granular adjustments at the store or SKU level. Our weekly stock and sales reports also offer in-season insights, so you can dynamically adapt purchases to respond to emerging market trends.
Stock Allocation and Replenishment
Ensuring stock is allocated correctly across stores and online channels is key to maximising sales. Futura’s allocation and replenishment system enables retailers to:
- Assign stock based on demand forecasts and sales history.
- Dynamically replenish stock to maximise sales opportunities without over-ordering.
- Optimise inter-branch transfers to move excess stock to where it is selling best.
- Use ‘what-if’ analysis to evaluate stock allocation scenarios and avoid over-ordering less popular items or fringe sizes.
Maximise inventory efficiency, reduce excess stock, and improve overall stock availability.
Flexible Merchandise Planning for Every Product Category
Retailers manage a wide range of products, from seasonal trends to core inventory staples. Our merchandise planning system allows businesses to:
- Categorise stock efficiently using a multi-dimensional product hierarchy (brand, department, season, etc.).
- Apply tailored planning strategies for seasonal vs. core product lines.
- Track and adjust stock performance across different categories in real time.
By adapting stock levels to different product needs, retailers can optimise inventory without compromising variety or availability.
The greatest example of the system’s merchandising strength is its live replenishment, ... a huge advantage in maximising fast selling lines
Tim Hollidge, FD, Oliver Bonas
Core Merchandise Planning Features
Take the guesswork out of buying and stocking with our intelligent merchandise planning tools. This solution is designed to help you manage your inventory as a financial asset, harnessing powerful forecasts and real-time sales data. The result is a more profitable stock mix, ensuring you can meet customer demand without tying up capital in slow-moving items.
> Budgeting & Open-to-Buy (OTB): Set and adjust stock budgets based on real-time sales performance, with both top-down and bottom-up planning to prevent overstocking and align purchasing with financial targets.
> Demand Forecasting: Utilise historical sales data to predict future stock requirements, accounting for seasonal shifts and sales trends to prevent stockouts and improve stock cover.
> Stock Allocation & Replenishment: Automatically generates purchase orders and replenishment suggestions based on demand, sales history, and continuously calculated target stock levels.
> Inter-Branch Transfers: The system intelligently suggests moving excess stock to where it’s selling best before raising new purchase orders, optimising your existing inventory.
> Flexible Analysis: Organise and plan stock using a multi-dimensional product hierarchy (brand, department, season) and use ‘what-if’ analysis to evaluate allocation scenarios.
> Markdown & Supplier Performance
Manage markdown strategies and evaluate supplier performance to optimise margins, clear slow-moving lines, and strengthen future buying decisions.
Our clients include
Take control of your merchandise planning today and ensure your business is always stocked for success.
Scale and grow your business with our built-for-retail solutions. Reliable and flexible, Futura products can accommodate complex business processes off-the-shelf, offering valuable features as standard.
