Improving Store Readiness: Building an Integrated Approach to Merchandise Transitions

A 1,500-unit beauty retailer faced challenges with introducing new products into existing store sets. The company lacked an integrated process to synchronize cross-functional teams, such as merchandising, supply chain, and store operations, leading to delays and inconsistencies. Poor coordination across departments resulted in missed deadlines for new product launches, higher expedite costs, and miscommunication on inventory placement and store readiness.

To solve these challenges, an integrated “Merchandise Transition Timeline” was developed and implemented to synchronize efforts across the organization. The process included aligning merchandising, supply chain, pricing, and store operations to ensure that stores were properly staffed, products were available on time, and promotional assets were delivered and activated as scheduled. The initiative streamlined the coordination between departments, reduced expedite costs, and improved overall execution at the store level.

With the new integrated process in place, the retailer significantly improved product launch timelines, reducing expedite costs associated with printing, shipping, and fixture deployment. Improved planogram execution and compliance reduced cut-in times, allowing for smoother transitions of new products into existing sets. The alignment across departments reduced delays, enabling the company to meet in-store launch dates, ultimately improving the customer experience and increasing operational efficiency.