RATEX Business Solutions, Inc.

General Merchandise (GM) is an integrated module of the RATEX software. GM will provide a cycle of four processes to assist you in managing your store more efficiently. The complete cycle includes merchandising planning, purchasing, automated sales, and analysis. GM will provide support for both staple goods and changing fashions while interfacing to the accounting, inventory, and receiving modules.

FOUR-PHASE CYCLE

The General Merchandise Module is designed to provide complete control of the merchandising process. The following briefly describes each phase of the cycle.

Phase One
Merchandise Planning is designed to assist the buyer by organizing data into valuable information on which to base decisions. For example, GM will assist you in the following:

Sales planning for seasonal sales for each class.
Reduction planning to determine seasonal reduction percentage.
Inventory investment planning to determine stock-to-sales ratio by months and beginning-of-month inventory.

Phase Two
Purchasing will provide in-depth information about vendors from which you can purchase merchandise. This data will include multiple vendors, stores, stock (e.g. price, color, size, style, season), and manufacturers.

Phase Three
Sales includes the point-of-sale terminals, customers picking up a product and going to the POS terminals, or sales collected on hand-held terminals. Sales will adjust quantities on hand for a perpetual inventory.

Phase Four
Analysis allows you to see whether purchases were profitable. This will give valuable information on which items to mark down and mark up. It will also give information on what has been sold, what are fast sellers, and what are slow sellers so you will be able to track the sales of a product (e.g. daily, weekly, monthly). You can determine which products to promote, based on profit margins, and which to purchase based on sales. This will keep the store operating at maximum profit levels. From the information provided, you can make more refined decisions for:

Product mix in the departments
Positioning of products in the store
The amount of floor space for each product
The testing of product locations
The productivity of sales departments
Item and class productivity
Improved inventory turn ratios

Much of the information gathered in analysis will, in turn, be entered into the merchandising plan to once again begin the cycle.

GENERAL MERCHANDISE REPORTING

The General Merchandise Module helps you manage your business by generating comprehensive reports designed into the system. It will assist you in determining your needs for small good, hard goods, and apparel products. The options are almost endless. This brochure contains three examples of reports that this module has available for your analysis.

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