i recall fondly my days of heading off to market with the anticipation of a school girl on her first day.  what would i see?  what would be the hot colors?  what new designers might i discover?  what were my fave designers up to?  and of course, i’d fall madly in love with a gazillion items and only have a small budget for my tiny shop. 

during  my first trips to market – i mistakenly wrote orders on the spot.  i recall my first holiday deliveries arriving and realizing that i had ordered a fancy black lace dress from at least 3 designers.  ooops!  after that – i resolved to wait until i got home so i could review everything before placing any orders.

as markets passed, i noodled with my Merchandising Matrix until it became a pretty simple – yet powerful – tool.  i could quickly sort by price point (and eliminate if i had too many inexpensive or too pricey items).  i could ensure that i had no random outliers in my color schemes (easy edit).  i could make sure i had enough styles of dresses (not everyone wants to wear a strapless mini!) and tops, bottoms, etc.  basically, i created an easy tool to help edit my buys.

Once that was done – it became a checklist for placing my POs and for delivery.  it’s a great tool that i’m selling for only $5 on etsy.  one of my favorite shop owners bought it recently and said “I think you may have revolutionized buying for us!”

that would be cool!

check it out.  if you buy one – i’ll gladly customize it for your purposes (and you get a snazzy e-PO as well).