ANT USA Inc.

I am happy to announce that we have implemented Buyers Toolbox AP for Merchandise Planning and Open To Buy at Runnings Farm and Fleet, to support ongoing growth in business volume and store counts. Runnings has been growing since its' founding in 1947, and today boasts several dozen large format locations in 8 states including Minnesota, South Dakota, North Dakota, Iowa, Montana, New York, New Hampshire and Connecticut. As a solid, growing family-owned retailer, Runnings is oriented towards profitability, practical inventory improvements and improving Open To Buy Management across an incredibly diverse range of seasonal, replenishment-driven, basic and fashion merchandise. Runnings selected ANT USA as a partner for our proven track record, long-term outlook and stability, as well as deep experience in Merchandise Planning. Critical to this relationship is ANT USA's ability to transfer planning knowhow and help coach the buying staff in core Merchandise Planning methods and techniques. This planning system implementation is being carried out in collaboration with Horizon Retail Solutions - a leading supplier of Retail ERP to Farm, Home and Ranch retailers. In the course of our partnership, Horizon has built a reusable, scalable and standardized data interface to help expedite this and future joint system implementations. Our flagship product – Buyers Toolbox AP fit the bill with best-in-class functionality, ease of use, a rapid implementation methodology and an affordable price point. On a personal note, I am really enjoying doing the work with such a team of nice, practical, results-oriented merchants.

Some planning ideas that actually have an expiration date (until next year :-))

Never too late to tune the planning process!

As we approach the holiday season, retailers face the crucial task of managing end-of season excess inventory. Here are a few practical tips on making sure you don't end up with a mountain of clearance stock in January on a category-by-category or key vendor basis: 1. Review your sales forecasts for the next eight weeks, and make sure that they reflect true sales trends actualized since the onset of the cold(er) season, based on sales data from mid-September or early October as compared to prior year(s). 2. Decide how much inventory you want to realistically END the year with - that will give you a good starting point for planning next year buys, and suggest the optimal amount of vendor receipts you may need over the holiday season. 3. Immediately focus on your Past Due OnOrder - review your outstanding orders NOW, to make sure that what you still have coming in is appropriate to your likely forecasted/target receipts. 4. Consider the timing of late (incoming) vendor receipts - make sure your FUTURE outstanding OnOrder is timed to actually hit the stores or the ecomm warehouse early enough to be able to sell through them. If not, try canceling some orders. Backloading Receipts is one of the most common planning/forecasting mistakes that leaves far too many merchants holding the bag by January 1 5. Review your forecasted inventory by channel and/or store, to make sure your inventory mix matches your sales mix. Too many units get stuck in places where they are not needed - and even on the shelf in the warehouse or DC 6. Consider that you will likely get a ton of customer returns after the holidays, and those will settle onto your inventory as dead weight. Try to estimate what percentage of such returns are going to be sellable, and whether that might reduce your holiday vendor receipt needs. 6. The Early Markdown Gets the Sale -don't wait until too late. Studies have shown that taking judicious markdowns while consumer demand is (still) strong tends to reduce the overall markdown amount needed to move excess inventory. Try to determine optimal timing and depth of markdowns, potentially increasing sell-through rates by as much as 20%. Finally - remember, the goal is to have a clean(er) stock position at the end of the holidays, which should give you more OTB freedom and fresher stock for Q1 trading. What do you think? Any and all comments (especially disagreements and challenges) would be most welcome here...

Enterprise-Level merchandise planning made accessible to #SMBretailers with ANT USA's new RetailOptia OTB! ?? RetailOptia #OpenToBuy enables independent SMB retailers to plan sales and manage purchasing budgets. The OTB software integration makes data flow seamlessly from Celerant's point of sale software right to ANT USA Inc. Retailers dont have to take any extra steps to make it happen.?? This DIY OTB solution for small-to-medium business retailers offers access to professional-grade tools and KPIs and facilitates the planning of sales, margins, inventory, and historical performance analysis. ?? Retailers can quickly develop buying guardrails and forecast category and store sales in their business, from brick-and-mortar locations to the eCommerce landscape. ?? Interested in learning more? SMB retailers interested in this new #businesssoftware can contact their Celerant or ANT USA reps to get started. Check out our #pressrelease for additional information. https://lnkd.in/g94svNa8

Enterprise-Level merchandise planning made accessible to #SMBretailers with ANT USA's new RetailOptia OTB! ?? RetailOptia #OpenToBuy enables independent SMB retailers to plan sales and manage purchasing budgets. The OTB software integration makes data flow seamlessly from Celerant's point of sale software right to ANT USA Inc. Retailers dont have to take any extra steps to make it happen.?? This DIY OTB solution for small-to-medium business retailers offers access to professional-grade tools and KPIs and facilitates the planning of sales, margins, inventory, and historical performance analysis. ?? Retailers can quickly develop buying guardrails and forecast category and store sales in their business, from brick-and-mortar locations to the eCommerce landscape. ?? Interested in learning more? SMB retailers interested in this new #businesssoftware can contact their Celerant or ANT USA reps to get started. Check out our #pressrelease for additional information. https://lnkd.in/g94svNa8

Enterprise-Level merchandise planning made accessible to #SMBretailers with ANT USA's new RetailOptia OTB! ?? RetailOptia #OpenToBuy enables independent SMB retailers to plan sales and manage purchasing budgets. The OTB software integration makes data flow seamlessly from Celerant's point of sale software right to ANT USA Inc. Retailers dont have to take any extra steps to make it happen.?? This DIY OTB solution for small-to-medium business retailers offers access to professional-grade tools and KPIs and facilitates the planning of sales, margins, inventory, and historical performance analysis. ?? Retailers can quickly develop buying guardrails and forecast category and store sales in their business, from brick-and-mortar locations to the eCommerce landscape. ?? Interested in learning more? SMB retailers interested in this new #businesssoftware can contact their Celerant or ANT USA reps to get started. Check out our #pressrelease for additional information. https://lnkd.in/g94svNa8

Big news! ANT USA is heading to the upcoming Retail Technology Show! Join us to discover how our Buyer's Toolbox Solution Suite can transform your Merchandise Financial Planning and Open to Buy strategies. Don't miss the chance to see our latest innovations. ?? See you at our stand 6K10! #RetailTech #Innovation #ANTUSA #RetailSolutions