The Advantage Program Back Office is a business tool that saves gift shop operators time and money. We took the standard retail accounting and merchandising plans and reports from our 7 Steps to a Highly Effective Gift Shop training guide and organized them into the three electronic office folders: Accounting Office, Buying Office, and Shop Operations Office. These three offices are the foundation of every successful retail operation.

The following is an example of just one of the plans included in the Buying Office.

The formulas for completing the functions are already calculated for you. All you do is enter information into the yellow cells. Using this information will help you make sound buying decisions.

Instructions for Six-Month Merchandise Buying Plan

Cell B2: Department you are planning.
Row 3: Month for the six-month period.
Row 4: PL BOM stock from the Department Sales and BOM Stock Plan.
Row 6: PL Sales from the Department Sales and BOM Stock Plan.
Cell B12: When the cost percent (%) is entered, PL Purchases at cost value will be automatically calculated.
Row 13: Merchandise on order from the Buyer’s Commitment Plan. When merchandise on order is entered in the appropriate yellow cells, the dollar amount on-order will be deducted from planned purchases, and Purchase dollars available will be automatically calculated in row 14.
Hint: The cost percent will be the compliment of the profit percent. For example, if the profit on candy is 30%, the cost percent is 70%.

Hint: If the calculated planned purchase dollars are a negative number, for example –500, planned purchase dollars are overspent.

How do I Know What My planned sales and Planned BOM Inventory should be?

The basis for all the plans and reports in the Back Office will be projected sales, both for the total shop and for individual departments. Because the Back Office Software is integrated, when you install and begin using the Back Office system in your gift shop you will have already completed the Sales and BOM Stock Plan. The system will automatically calculate planned sales and inventory levels for each department in the time it takes you to enter last years sales data.