Documenting the present moment is the best life
The following discussion in the cold fashion circle is a discussion and summary of industry issues. These sharing are the culmination of collective wisdom. (They do not represent Leng Yun's personal opinions). I hope that more people in the industry can benefit in this way!
1. How to define the responsibilities of commodity planning positions?
1.Product planning job responsibilities and necessary literacy
Regarding the core values of product planning, the participants put forward their own views, including predicting market trends in advance, gaining insight into changes in user needs, formulating a comprehensive planning outline, meeting consumer demands, and improving performance and satisfaction.
Product planning needs to solve the current business pain points of enterprises and the purchase demands of consumers on the basis of considering brand positioning and long-term development strategy. It is not only a front-end planning link, but also a full-link penetration and monitoring link.
In order to become an all-round product planner, the key points that need to be paid attention to in the specific planning process include:
1) Category structure planning, market growth potential of different categories;
2) Formulate and decompose sales targets, and determine key categories and SKUs
3) ** strategy, planning of different price ranges;
4) Channel and terminal planning, online and offline business forms;
5) Style and design language positioning to meet consumers' aesthetic feelings;
6) Inventory and turnover rate control to maximize the efficiency of capital flow;
7) ** Rhythm arrangement to achieve the rational use of marketing resources;
8) Product planning through the above methods, the brand strategic objectives are concretized and disassembled, and the overall planning of product design, marketing, channels, and other aspects is guided to achieve the effective achievement of business goals.
However, in practice, the power of the product planning department is sometimes smaller than that of the sales operation department. How to enhance the power and status of the commodity team needs to be fought for by continuously deepening professional research, reporting, expression, communication and coordination skills.
2.The direct definition of product planning by each brand company
The ideal state of product planning is to realize the full-link operation of product drive. However, this usually requires the brand to develop to a more mature stage, the business model is more fixed, or the founder gives more power support to the commodity department. For many companies that are actively transforming, they also need to form a positive interaction between commodities and other sectors to gradually achieve a balance of power.
In general, excellent product planners need to have in-depth research and understanding of user consumption psychology, product design and development, sales channel operation, market environment, etc., in order to play a core role in the complex and changeable business environment, and truly solve the business problems of enterprises and the pain points of consumer demand.
This requires the cooperation of all relevant departments within the company to maximize the value of product planning. At the same time, the product planning team should continue to enhance its value influence through professional research and practical accumulation. Only when the commodity planning function is given enough attention can it have a far-reaching and positive role in promoting the development of enterprises.
We also hope that through such industry discussions, more companies will be encouraged to rethink the positioning of the commodity sector and give more power and support. Because commodity driving is a very effective business operation model, it can help enterprises better grasp market opportunities and meet user needs. This will not only improve the core competitiveness of enterprises, but also promote the progress and development of the entire industry.
2. How does product planning expand daily work and what challenges will it encounter?
1.Product planning day-to-day business flow
In the process of product planning, reasonable business planning needs to consider many factors, such as financial profit targets, historical sales performance data, store terminal conditions, etc. The department that leads the planning varies depending on the company's situation, and some companies are led by the planning department, while others are led by the business department or the marketing operation department.
For the expected target of performance growth, we will comprehensively consider the performance of brands in the same industry, competitive product data and macro market trends. However, the growth rate expectation also needs to be reasonably judged according to the development stage and channel situation of different brands, and it is not possible to blindly pursue high-speed growth. For example, emerging brands can expect higher growth, while mature brands should focus on steady growth. Online channels can also take on higher growth targets.
Climate change risk is an important influencing factor when developing a commodity strategy for a single quarter or cadence and needs to be addressed in advance. Especially for brands with apparel products, temperature fluctuations will directly affect the rhythm of product sales. In recent years, climate anomalies have also increased the uncertainty of commodity strategy formulation to a certain extent. This requires companies to raise awareness of climate risks and optimize their response measures in terms of product design, inventory control, etc.
2.What are the challenges of product planning?
At present, China's consumer market as a whole is showing a relatively obvious polarization trend. The trend of high-end in online channels is particularly prominent, resulting in many clothing brands that were originally positioned at the light luxury level facing pressure to transform. However, commodity companies cannot simply respond by raising product pricing or switching to imported high-end fabrics, which may not necessarily be recognized by users. It should be balanced from multiple dimensions of product design, quality control, and style orientation, and be consistent with brand positioning.
In general, excellent product planners need to stand in the perspective of target users and carefully grasp the direction of consumer market and aesthetic evolution. On this basis, we will develop a forward-looking and reasonable business plan, and maintain good communication with other functional departments to form synergies. This requires the continuous improvement of professional judgment and insight of product planners in order to formulate a clear and executable product strategy in a complex and volatile market environment, and bring sustainable and healthy growth momentum to the enterprise.
A professional and efficient product planning team will directly affect the competitiveness of the enterprise. This will not only improve the core competitiveness of enterprises, but also have a positive effect on the overall progress of the industry. We also encourage more young talents to devote themselves to this career field, so that product strategic planning can truly become the core driving force for the growth of the enterprise.
3.What are some tips for data collection and insight in product planning?
In the process of product planning, how to accurately explore and analyze consumer needs is a very critical link. Data collection and insight from multiple perspectives can be carried out from the following dimensions:
1) The accumulation of historical data of the brand itself, including the specific situation of the best-selling product styles of last year or previous years, and the comparative analysis of sales performance data of different price points and product categories. This requires enterprises to have their own sales channels and user data accumulation, especially offline physical channels, with high data directness and accuracy.
2) Competitive product and industry data monitoring. By tracking the sales of products in the same category, you can compare and measure the popularity of your own products and consumer preferences.
3) In-depth interviews with individual consumers. Conduct face-to-face interviews with the most valuable users in the core target user group to obtain more real and detailed consumer feedback. However, the data are limited and need to be comprehensively analyzed.
4) KOL and KOC consumption behavior. The preferences of this group of people can also represent the selection tendency of the target core users, and the product positioning can be based on this.
5) Analysis of seasonal climate characteristics and holiday periods. This directly affects the sales rhythm and cycle of the product, and it is necessary to consider the seasonality of different product categories.
6) Hire forward-looking designers to gain professional insight and judgment on future product design trends.
7) The application of data analysis tools, such as consumption scenarios and user attribute annotation, is used to segment user portraits.
8) Research on user needs from the perspective of consumer psychology, and analyze the emotional demands and decision-making drivers of the target group.
9) In the process of consumer data analysis, it is necessary to extract key dimensions such as product category, target user age group, consumption scenario, cost-effective expectation, etc., and match it with brand positioning, and formulate a product planning plan that meets the real needs of users.
10) At the same time, it is also necessary to strengthen data sharing, communication and collaboration between different departments, and carry out cross-checking in product line planning to reduce judgment bias. Only with the support of multi-faceted data and systematic analysis can we make accurate decisions on the complex and changeable market environment and grasp the main axis of consumption psychology and behavioral decision-making of target users.
We look forward to the continuous improvement of consumer big data and business analysis capabilities in the future, which can help formulate accurate product strategies. Accurately predicting market trends is the basis for the product planning function to realize its core value. This will not only enhance the market responsiveness and core competitiveness of enterprises, but also promote the entire industry to provide products and solutions that are more in line with user needs.
Third, commodity planning can be given to clothing enterprises
What kind of business value does it bring?
1.What is the business value that product planning can bring to a company?
As for the value of the product planning department, industry participants said that in many companies, its key role is not being fully utilized. For example, some fast fashion brands rely more on buyers to determine product sourcing mix, and the merchandising team plays a relatively weak role.
In response to this phenomenon, some companies are trying to implement the product manager system, that is, the original ordering department functions are separated, so that the product planning team can focus more on the early market and consumer research, and improve the insight into user needs. The work evaluation of product managers also pays more attention to quality indicators such as product innovation and order satisfaction of R&D.
At the same time, the rise of e-commerce live streaming has also put forward new requirements for product planning. This type of business model is more dependent on the popularity rate of a single product, and the merchandising team needs to provide more customized products suitable for this scenario. Companies that have successfully created a clear brand symbol often have merchandising departments that are able to run through every aspect of the product life cycle, attach great importance to terminal sales data and user feedback, and work closely with the design and sales departments.
2.How should companies view the value of product planning?
Many in the industry believe that, ideally, the commodity sector should play a central strategic role in the business. It requires horizontal and coordinated planning of the entire product category, as well as vertical life cycle management. However, it is necessary to obtain the full recognition and support of the company's senior management and investors, and continuously improve the ability to use data, in order to make correct business judgments and deal with sales difficulties.
An excellent product management team should not only have a keen insight into the early design trends, but also maintain a high degree of attention to the later sales situation, and fully cooperate and communicate with all relevant departments. It should become the business think tank and strategic core department of the enterprise. However, in terms of actual function, the merchandising team of many brands still has a lot of room for improvement, and needs to further gain the trust and authorization of the company to play its due leadership role.
3.What is the future career direction of product planning?
Regarding the future career development direction of product planning, industry insiders put forward the following suggestions:
1) Do excellent product planning, and have the opportunity to be promoted to become a management executive at the level of the company's business department or headquarters, such as brand CEO, COO, etc. Product planning requires global business thinking and decision-making skills.
2) After accumulating certain industry experience, transform into an independent designer brand or partner of a sales platform, and start your own business in the field of goods.
3) Work as a commodity consultant or investment manager, provide product strategy and brand advice for start-ups, and discover potential new consumer brands. This requires a broad vision of the industry.
4) Combined with deep product research and development and first-chain management capabilities, become the person in charge of the company's product center, and comprehensively control the creation of product system.
5) After accumulating work experience in the platform of a large e-commerce or clothing company for several years, choose the right time to start a business again and absorb the resource advantages of large companies.
6) You can also choose a position with high stability, such as a senior commodity manager in a specific category, to deepen the cultivation of key areas.
7) If you prefer easy work intensity, you can also choose to engage in commodity micro-business or private domain operation, which is more flexible and autonomous.
In short, product planning requires overall thinking and decision-making ability, and if it can be done well, it has broad prospects in the development of the industry. For start-ups, you can start with product control and gradually improve the decision-making system. In the future, it can develop into the core department and brain of the company's business strategy. Merchandising personnel must continue to learn Xi knowledge in various fields in order to become excellent brand operators.
We also look forward to helping more young talents understand the professional appeal of product planning through industry exchanges. Because we've said time and time again that a dedicated merchandising team is the key to sustainable business success. They provide the core support for creating a clear brand identity and seizing market opportunities. We need to unleash the energy and creativity of this workforce.
The owner concluded
1. Definition of job responsibilities for commodity planning.
Scope of Responsibilities: The responsibilities of product planning include market analysis, product positioning, sales strategy formulation and strategy.
Required Qualities: All-round merchandisers need to have market insight, data analysis skills, innovative thinking, and good communication skills.
Brand definition: Different brands have different definitions of product planning, but they are generally directly related to the market performance and sales results of products.
2. The daily work development and challenges of product planning.
Business processes: The day-to-day work of merchandising involves product lifecycle management, competitive product analysis, and market trend tracking.
Challenges encountered: Possible challenges include rapidly changing market trends, speed of product updates, and internal resource coordination.
Data collection and insight skills:
1) Accumulation of historical data of the brand itself;
2) Competitive product and industry data monitoring.
3) In-depth interviews with individual consumers.
4) KOL and KOC consumption behavior.
5) Analysis of seasonal climate characteristics and holiday periods.
6) Hire professionals for analysis.
7) Application of data analysis tools.
8) Research on user needs from the perspective of consumer psychology.
9) Extract key dimensions.
3. The commercial value of commodity planning to garment enterprises.
Business value: Merchandising can help companies understand market demand, optimize product mix, and improve sales efficiency and profits.
Enterprise awareness: Enterprises should pay attention to the central role of product planning in product development, market expansion and brand positioning.
Career development: Merchandising planners may pursue a senior management position, a marketing strategy consultant, or start their own business.
Text arrangement: Zhang Huaikai
Text Editor: Chen Chang
Art Editor: Li Ning