Abercrombie & Fitch
6 Month Buying Plan and Sales Analysis
The Ask
For this project, we created a six month buying plan for Abercrombie by analyzing their sales data, current product mix, and market position. Using these insights, we identified key opportunities, recommended investments, and outlined how the brand could balance trend driven items with reliable core pieces to maximize sales for the upcoming season.
Meet the Team
Fiona Gilbert
Emily Umeres
Skills
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Through this project, my partner and I effectively divided the work to best fit our skills while not inhibiting the development of new ones.
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This project required a thorough and correct analysis of Abercrombie and Fitch as well as L brands as a conglomerate.
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This project required a thorough analysis of Abercrombie’s target market and how their market has changed over the years.
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The main aspect of this project was developing a 6 month plan and accurately predicting a sales plan for Abercrombie’s future.
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This project required multiple presentation to our peers and instructors.
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We used Adobe photoshop and illustrator when designing our final package and developing the infographics.
The Process
The process began with researching external and macroeconomic factors to understand what could impact consumer demand over the next six months. From there, we analyzed Abercrombie’s recent sales data to identify monthly patterns and determine how much each month should contribute to the overall sales plan. Using industry benchmarks and the brand’s current performance, we set stock-to-sales ratios and built our inventory plan by calculating the beginning-of-month stock needed to support each sales target. We then created a forward-looking markdown strategy to protect profitability and avoid repeating past trends. Finally, we calculated the purchases at retail as the balancing step, making sure every part of the model aligned and that the full six month plan was realistic and internally consistent.
The Outcome
The outcome of the project was a fully developed six month financial plan tailored to Abercrombie & Fitch, built on a detailed analysis of the brand’s current position and the market conditions influencing it. The plan drew from multiple research areas, including economic factors, shifts in consumer interest toward sustainability, seasonal patterns in weather and color trends, omni channel marketing strategies, the structure of the 4 5 4 retail calendar, and year over year performance data. Together, these elements created a thorough and strategically grounded roadmap for future buying decisions.