Effective collection planning is crucial for brand managers, design teams, and financial controllers to ensure the success of their brands. However, relying on Excel spreadsheets can lead to complications, including a lack of real-time visibility into collection themes, creative direction, quantities, price points, financial targets, and more. This article explores how Product Lifecycle Management (PLM) solutions can revolutionize collection planning, minimizing development costs, sample cancellations, and unfulfilled minimum order quantities, while maximizing profits and improving time-to-market.
Benefits of PLM for Collection Planning:
Unstructured collection planning often results in a high cancellation rate of up to 40-50% during the sampling process. This leads to excessive styles, missing price points, and unfulfilled minimum order quantities, which can strain supplier relationships and compromise quality consistency. PLM provides designers with a comprehensive overview of collection specifications, enabling a streamlined process and real-time visibility into the collection plan. By adhering to agreed specifications, brands can significantly reduce development costs associated with sample cancellations and ensure MOQs are met.
Developing a collection plan requires time and research based on valuable insights from previous collections and market trends. However, without proper implementation, brands may end up with a collection that deviates from the intended parameters and specifications. This wastage of resources can have adverse effects on market performance. PLM offers an accurate database for collection plans, allowing designers to access specifications promptly. This ensures the collection aligns with planned parameters, avoiding wasted resources and ensuring the right mix of commercial and creative items.
Managing collection plans in Excel often leads to a lack of visibility throughout the development process, hindering effective collaboration among managers, designers, buyers, and manufacturers. PLM serves as a centralized platform for gathering collection plans and product data, enabling all stakeholders to follow the process seamlessly. By working with real-time data and providing designers with an overview of the collection plan, PLM enhances collaboration, promotes structured teamwork, and streamlines the development phase.
Planning collections solely in Excel poses challenges in providing designers with the necessary overview to ensure adherence to quantities, styles, categories, features, colors, and labels. Structured collection planning is vital, as it is based on extensive insights and analysis of previous collection performance. Neglecting the collection plan can result in underperforming collections and revenue loss. By embracing PLM, brands can overcome these challenges, align stakeholders, and establish a single source of truth. PLM enables effective monitoring of the collection planning process, minimizes risk, and optimizes market outcomes.
In summary, utilizing PLM solutions revolutionizes collection planning by offering real-time visibility, reducing cancellation rates, meeting minimum order quantities, preventing resource waste, and streamlining the development process. By respecting and adhering to the collection plan, brands can launch successful collections, mitigate revenue loss, and enhance market performance. PLM serves as a valuable tool, fostering collaboration among managers, buyers, controllers, and designers, ensuring a seamless and efficient collection planning experience.
Ensure your collection planning meets its full potential by integrating PLM into your processes and reap the rewards of enhanced efficiency and improved market outcomes.