Innocent Tumelo Ntuli and Victor Virimai Mugobo
Abstract
Clothing retail companies constantly have to deal with ever-changing consumer demands a dynamic and volatile competitive environment, economic challenges, and pandemics among other challenges. As a significant number of South African fashion retailers continue to struggle to manage their merchandise, a proposition was developed for this study as literature acknowledges the benefits of effective merchandise planning in a retail company. The purpose of this research study was therefore to identify how merchandise planning could be used effectively to manage the ever-changing merchandise requirements of a selected fashion retail store in Cape Town, South Africa. A clothing retail company and 12 participants working in a management capacity were purposively selected. A qualitative approach was used, and interviews were conducted on the selected participants to participate in the study. This study revealed that merchandise planning is being used as a strategy to manage demand effectively. Throughout this study, there has been examination and, where possible, explanation of the intricate relationship between merchandise planning and its ability to help retailers adapt to dynamic shifts in supply chains, global market trends, and local external factors, such as load shedding and the over-dependence on non-local manufacturing. The study also established the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on the fashion industry as a whole. The study further revealed the merchandise planning strategies that are used by the clothing retail company, in order to stay competitive and continue to meet the needs and expectations of its customers. By synthesising the evidence presented in this study, meaningful conclusions that shed light on the significance and implications of merchandise planning in the retail business landscape were drawn.