Quarterly Department Store Merchandise Assortment Analysis

Track and analyze merchandise performance across categories, focusing on sales, margins, inventory efficiency, and markdown optimization to drive profitable assortment decisions.

Report Objective

Evaluate merchandise assortment performance across all departments to optimize inventory investment, maximize gross margin, and maintain healthy inventory turns while minimizing unnecessary markdowns.

Category Performance Overview

Bar chart showing sales revenue and gross margin by category, with inventory turns overlay

Questions to Consider:

Women's WearMen's WearAccessoriesHome Goodscategory$0$10,000,000$20,000,000$30,000,000sum(sales_revenue)sum(sales_revenue)How are Categories Performing on Sales and Margin?Women's Wear leads in sales while Accessories shows highest margin

  • Which categories show the strongest combination of sales and margin?

  • Are there opportunities to expand high-margin categories?

  • How do seasonal categories compare to basic categories?

  • Which categories have the most efficient inventory turn?

  • Are there categories where we can reduce inventory depth?

  • How do turns align with margin performance?

Women's WearMen's WearAccessoriesHome Goodscategory0.020.040.060.080.0100.0sum(inventory_turns)sum(inventory_turns)How Efficient is Our Inventory Management by Category?Fast fashion categories show highest inventory turns

Style Level Performance

Scatter plot comparing sales velocity to weeks of supply by style

Questions to Consider:

0100200300400500sum(sales_velocity)10.020.030.040.0sum(weeks_of_supply)How Well Balanced is Our Style-Level Inventory?20% of styles show suboptimal weeks of supply vs velocity

  • Which styles have misaligned inventory levels relative to their sales?

  • Are there opportunities for inventory reallocation?

  • What is the optimal weeks of supply by velocity tier?

Markdown Analysis

Bar chart showing markdown depth and dollars by category

Questions to Consider:

  • Which categories require the most markdown investment?

  • How does markdown depth correlate with category performance?

  • Are there opportunities to improve initial pricing strategy?

Women's WearMen's WearAccessoriesHome Goodscategory$0$1,000,000$2,000,000$3,000,000$4,000,000sum(markdown_dollars)sum(markdown_dollars)Where are Markdowns Most Impacting Margin?Seasonal categories show highest markdown impact