Texts: You are the Marshalls Allocation Analyst for the Ladies Activewear department. It is currently the end of April, and your department is transitioning into warm weather products. However, the weather across the country has still been colder than seasonal norms.
Currently, this department has a stock-to-sales ratio (SSR)* of 4.5 weeks, and you need to ship 5,000 units to stores this week. The department is made up of several different commodities:
- Fleece sweatshirts – SSR 6.0 (this commodity historically is not shipped past April)
- Active bottoms – SSR 4.0
- Swimwear – SSR 12.0 (shipping started 2 weeks ago for this commodity)
- Short sleeve tops – SSR 5.0
Using the data in the table below, come up with the shipping strategy for the week based on a total department target of approximately 5,000 units. (Note that you must ship the total number of units for each product; you cannot ship partial units.)
Come prepared to discuss what product you decided to ship for this week and the reason for that decision. Additional information to consider:
- All Marshalls stores are located in A & B markets (metropolitan & adjacent areas)
- There are 100 Marshalls stores
- *Stock to Sales ratio (SSR) – The SSR measures the health of a business by comparing how quickly a product is selling relative to how much we have in store inventory. A high SSR number indicates that an item is selling more slowly than a lower SSR number. For example, a turn of 3.2 means the current stock will sell out in just over 3 weeks, a turn of 6.5 means the product will sell out in just over 6 weeks.
Vendor Commodity Product # of units Vendor SSR (if applicable) 5.0
Nike Active bottoms Active bottoms Active bottoms Fleece sweatshirt Swimwear Black biker shorts 1500
Adidas 7/8 length floral yoga pants 1000 3.0
Lole Navy blue running shorts 2000
New vendor Champion White with logo 600 7.5
Speedo 1 piece red high neck racerback 2 piece striped bathing suit Pink short sleeve moisture-wicking Black comfort t-shirt 300
New vendor Roxy RBX Swimwear Short sleeve tops Short sleeve tops 750 400
New vendor New vendor Yogalicious 1800 4.8