Clothing Seasonal Purchase Process

Purchasing for Seasons involves a number of steps:

1. Purchasing Sample stock and catalogues from suppliers and distributing them to sales reps
2. Clothing Seasonal Sales Forecasting sales
3. Asking customers to indicate interest by entering Seasonal Sales Orders to "Awaiting Confirmation" status
4. Comparing Seasonal Sales Order demand with Clothing Seasonal Sales Forecasting to decide range
   1. Dropping some Articles
5. Sending a Seasonal Purchase Order for the Supplier to confirm manufacture of Articles of interest
6. Receiving confirmation from supplier of order quantities / alternatives offered
   1. Dropping some Articles or creating alternatives
7. Revisiting customer interest and updating Seasonal Sales Orders to  remove dropped articles / offer alternatives and then move to "Confirmed" status

See Seasonal Planning for New Products Process

Clothing Seasons tend to have a large number of Articles that:

• Are considered but are never purchased
  • They may be offered to customers - however without enough customer interest they are then dropped
• Are sold only for the season
  • Will be considered as "Prospective" for a limited time
  • Will move from "Prospective" status to either "Active" or "Inactive" depending on interest.

A number of key processes are supported:

• Mass creating articles via Importing Articles Process
  • Linked to the season (Indicates availability dates)
  • Using Parent Articles, Brands, creating sizes
• Articles have a number of possible 'Status' options
  • "Prospective" for Articles you have not yet decided if you will purchase
    
    • Samples may be purchased, stocked but not sold - see Samples
  • "Active" for those that are confirmed as being part of the season
  • "Inactive" for those confirmed as not being part of the season and never to be purchased
  • "Run out stock"
• Seasonal Purchase Order Planning - for a brand
  • A screen that allows planning across the months in the season for the quantities that will be purchased.  All possible Articles linked to the season are displayed in category groupings with the ability to enter planned quantities. 
  • Submit the plan for management approval and then Seasonal Purchase Orders will be created for each month.
• Seasonal Purchase Order
  
  • Moves through a number of statuses
    • "Prospective" when still deciding the season range
    • "To be approved" for approval by management of the spend
    • "Await Supplier Confirmation" when decided on range and checking with supplier
    • "Confirmed" when supplier has confirmed ordered items can be fulfilled
  • Changes in status will cause:
    • From "Prospective" to "Await Supplier Confirmation"
      • Articles in "Prospective" Status 
        • are not affected if they remain on the Seasonal Purchase Order
        • become inactive if user removes them from the Seasonal Purchase Order and agrees they should become inactive
          • Can no longer be placed on Seasonal Sales Orders
          • Are listed with a strike through where existing on Seasonal Sales Orders
    • From "Await Supplier Confirmation" to "Confirmed"
      • Articles that are on the Seasonal Purchase Order in "Prospective" status become "Active"
      • Articles that have been removed from the Seasonal Purchase Order become "Inactive" 
        • • Can no longer be placed on Seasonal Sales Orders
          • Are listed with a strike through where existing on Seasonal Sales Orders
        • unless they have Sample Stock in which case they will become a status of "Run out" until the samples are sold or scrapped.
• Seasonal Sales Orders
  • Are the only order type with access to the Seasonal items
    • Can only add Seasonal items in "Prospective" or "Active" status
  • Can also have non-seasonal items added to them
  • Are entered in "Awaiting Confirmation" status until Seasonal Purchase Order is "Confirmed'
  • Will not move to "Confirmed" Status until the purchase order moves to "Confirmed" status.