The fashion planning conundrum: Three plans, three teams, one big problem

For all the talk around AI efficiency, it’s crazy that so many businesses are still stuck in silos.

Take fashion planning. Ask three different teams for their plan and you’ll get three different answers. Merchandising has a spreadsheet. Assortment another. Finance something else.

It’s no wonder that when stock is stuck in the wrong place or landed costs go up unexpectedly, other teams waste hours reconciling numbers that never match.

Traditional planning is too slow and cumbersome for an industry that prides itself on speed.

By the time teams patch these plans together, the season has shifted, and the P&L pays the price.

It isn’t “just the way it is”

Contrary to what some might say, relying on old methods simply because they’re tried and tested isn’t always the right approach.

Historically, merchandising handled allocations and markdowns. Assortment decided the range. Finance tracked costs and targets. Everyone worked hard, but in isolation.

This worked in a smaller, slower world. Today, however, the gaps show up quickly:

• Merchandisers fire-sell stock because they didn’t see assortment’s last-minute changes.
• Finance forecasts get blown apart by unexpected landed costs.
• Assortment buys wide, only to find stores can’t shift the volume.

Each team is doing their job. But without a shared, living plan, those efforts don’t add up to control. They add up to firefighting.

What a master business plan changes

When you roll every single operational plan into one living master plan (finance, merchandising, assortment), it becomes far easier to keep everyone on the same page.

Whenever a variable changes in one plan, every other plan updates instantly, so every team sees the latest information.

It means merchandising, assortment and finance don’t work on parallel tracks; they move as one unit and keep everything flowing smoothly.

Merchandising: More margin, less waste

• Connected plans mean allocation match category goals, margin targets and real-time assortment changes.
• Promotions aren’t knee-jerk. They’re modelled in advance against item hierarchies and store groups.
• Stock is protected for flagship stores and VIP customers, rather than being wasted on locations that don’t need it.

All this compounds to stronger sell-through, fewer markdowns, and margins that hold up across the season.

Assortment: The right range, every time

• Mid-season curveballs are manageable. Ratio curves let you shift size or fit allocations without starting from scratch.
• Every buy is based on true landed costs (purchase, freight, customs), so margins are protected from day one.
• Product mixes align to actual store profiles, down to colour-level forecasts. The right range ends up in the right place at the right time.

Brands have the insight and means to adapt to changes, giving them control amid turbulence.

Finance: Forecasts you can trust

• See a rolling, reconciled forecast, rather than juggling siloed guesses.
• Variant-level costing ensures no surprises at goods receipt. Every SKU is fully loaded before commitment.
• Working capital is tied up in winners, not deadstock. Cash flow improves.

Reporting becomes instant and based on accurate data, while COGS are visible the moment stock lands.

How it works in practice

It’s worth reiterating that a master plan doesn’t mean every team loses autonomy. Far from it.

Finance still sets seasonal sales and margin goals. Merchandising still defines categories and delivery drops. Assortment still selects style, colours, and size ratios.

The major difference is that all these plans are linked together:

• A change to coverage updates everywhere, for everyone.
• Landed cost shifts roll up into forecasts automatically.
• “What if” scenarios show impact on sales, margins and inventory before production.

It allows for every decision to be made based on up-to-date information from all departments.

Why now?

Fashion’s volatility is at an all-time high. Between trend-driven hypes, shifting tariff landscapes, and unexpected supply chain shocks, plans can be thrown out the window at any time.

Static spreadsheets and disconnected plans simply aren’t sufficient in this landscape.

Thriving brands are the ones that can pivot instantly.

Those who see the consequences of change before committing. Those that make planning less about patching mistakes and more about margin and cash protection.

Master business plans aren’t a luxury.

They’re how brands regain control in a turbulent market and protect their bottom line.

Want to see master business planning in action? Drop us a line to book a demo and see our solution in action.