This document outlines the objectives and phases of an apparel assortment assignment. The objectives are to research and analyze style mixes, understand buying decisions, and develop merchandise mixes for different target markets. The phases include: researching 5 price zones and selecting 1 company from each, analyzing category mixes within each company, creating style mix boards organizing styles by basic/promo/fashion, analyzing style choices and making changes, and indicating styles to carry over to future seasons. The goal is to gain skills in visually planning and theoretically developing merchandise mixes for various markets.

1. FRM 3455 Merchandise Management Assortment Assignment Week #2 K. Kujawa
Revised
Assignment Objectives:
• To research and analyze merchandise style mixes in women’s, men’s, and children’s apparel in order to
understand ratios, philosophy, and use of trends
• To develop a stronger understanding of buying decision-making process based on target market
demographics and store retail philosophy
• To gain the skills necessary to visually plan and theoretically develop successful merchandise mixes for
diverse target markets in different wholesale price zones for numerous apparel and non-apparel product
lines.
Phase 1: Research 5 Wholesale Price Zones
Select 1 company from each of the 5 wholesale price zones.
The wholesale price zones are Budget-Moderate-Better-Bridge-Designer.
Choose an assortment of large scale companies with a solid history of 20 years or more. Search their websites for
information about their retail philosophy and design strategy within their market.
Print this information out for each of the 5 companies or labels you choose
Print out 5 different packs from your 5 searches. You might choose 5 labels you know from these categories, such as
xhilaration from Target which is budget. So you would print out the search about xhilaration garments presently on their
website. You might go to Macys or Nordstrom or Saks website and pull out Dana Buchman for Bridge level or Guess or
something else. What you need to do is to have print outs of various price points, style features, assortments, etc. which
represent the different price zones. They will not be all the same as you get higher and higher price points.
Phase 2: Category Mix Research
Within each of the 5 companies search 3 different categories of apparel or more to find one that interests you.
Within the companies you chose above- don’t just look at dresses and be done with it. You need to look at several different
categories of clothing to get the feel for this company. You should be looking at maybe denim jeans or pants in all 5
companies to see the differences. This is time researching and learning. You can print out a sampling if they are really
huge- but you will learn a lot by just taking the time to scan through their selections. Remember some websites show each
color of the same outfit as a separate picture- but its only 1 style- so don’t print it off in 10 colors if its all the same tee shirt
or skirt. So you might actually need to look at several companies- maybe 7-8 and then look at clothing in several categories
before you start seeing similar merchandise patterns. It will take you more time to just search and explore than actually
work on the mix info below. But you need to do this in order to start understanding the different markets.
THEN CHOOSE THE CATEGORY THAT MOST INTERESTS YOU AND PRINT THAT OUT FOR ALL FIVE COMPANIES.
If possible, print out 2 copies of each grouping so you can retain the price info and one copy to cut out.
Try to group images in miniature or print the whole page of items from the website- don’t waste money on color print out.
Cut out all the photos for the next step.
Phase 3: Working Style Mix Board
Create a folder or ‘board’ using a manila folder or a large piece of 11X17 paper or 2 pieces of 8.5X11 paper taped together .
DO NOT MAKE A HEAVY CARDBOARD FOLDER.
This is a working folder- one that you will write on and glue thing to and take things off—so it is not a final presentation
piece--- don’t go overboard or spend a lot of money.
Keep it neat and organized in a simple way.
A total of 5 working folders will be needed. One for each Wholesale Price Zone.
Mark each folder with the company/label, season, and the category.
Then make 3 categories for the folder- Basic, Promo, and Fashion for the apparel category you have chosen.
So it may say “Jeans- Fall 09 Route 66 Label = Walmart” and then it will say “Jeans- Fall 09 Kohls – Mudd Label”.

2. Now use the cut out photos of Jeans from the Walmart website and begin to look at them from Basic-Promo-Fashion
perspective. You can create 3 different pages marked as such or you can line them up horizontally across the 11x17 paper
or the open manila folder. Use just a line across to mark the sections.
Remember- this is not just about price. Its about style. Use a piece of tape or a SMALL swipe of glue to hold them in
place----you may have to make changes – so don’t use a lot of glue or tape. Small pieces of tape rolled up work really well.
Phase 4: It’s all in the Details
Now that you have your Basic, Promo, and Fashion styles sorted out, take some time to really analyze your choices. Are
they even in all the categories? What price ranges are in each section? Which section offers the most colors? Where is
your most expensive item? The cheapest? Look for color choices, fabric choices, and print choices. Is it really the best
choice for your customers? Where would YOU make some changes? Mark those in RED on your working style mix boards.
You may make any changes you think are necessary—change prices, colors, fabric choices.
Phase 5: Moving Forward
Buyers always watch certain styles for inventory replenishment and carryover to the next season. Sometimes certain styles
will be re-colored for the next delivery, new prints or plaids offered, new details offered, etc. As a buyer, you need to decide
very early in your plan which styles from your present season mix will be carried forward or have increased presence on the
sales floor. Look through each of your 5 mixes and star the styles that would be carried forward. If you are adding colors or
patterns = then add those underneath the photo. If you are making slight style changes, then sketch or make a written note
of the change. Make sure these changes are clear and in a different color so anyone else using the board will know this is
for a future season- not the current one. Use a box around it, a different color, or a label of some kind to make sure it is
easy to see it is something to notice for the future. Be ready to discuss your choices in class.