Purpose
Catch the gap between what merchandising wants to buy and what the financial plan can actually support — before the buy locks. Produces a SKU- and category-level alignment report that proves whether the assortment hits revenue, margin, and inventory targets, and names exactly what to change when it doesn't.
When to Use
Invoke this skill when the user asks to:
- Check whether a proposed assortment plan hits revenue or margin targets
- Validate a seasonal buy or category plan against the financial plan
- Reconcile a merchandising assortment with open-to-buy or inventory constraints
- Find where SKU count, depth, or category mix is over- or under-investing
- Diagnose why an assortment plan won't deliver planned margin
- Pressure-test an assortment before pre-season sign-off
Inputs Required
Before starting, collect:
- Proposed assortment: SKU or style count by category, with planned receipt units and cost
- Planned retail/AUR: Average unit retail by category or SKU tier
- Revenue target: Net sales goal for the period (total and by category if available)
- Margin goal: Target gross margin % (and any IMU/markdown assumptions)
- Inventory constraints: Open-to-buy budget, target weeks of supply, or inventory cap
- Selling period & sell-through assumption: Season length and expected full-price sell-through %
- Mix priorities (optional): Any category, newness, or hero-product weighting goals
If AUR or sell-through is missing, apply category-typical defaults and flag every assumption used in the report.
Instructions
Step 1: Build the Planned Revenue Bridge
Translate the assortment into projected net sales and compare to target.
- For each category:
Planned units × AUR × full-price sell-through% = full-price revenue - Add residual markdown revenue:
Remaining units × (AUR × markdown%) × clearance sell-through% - Sum to a total projected net sales figure
- Compare to revenue target: report the gap in dollars and % (e.g., "Projected $4.2M vs. $5.0M target — 16% short")
- Identify which categories drive the shortfall or surplus
Step 2: Run the Margin Check
Verify the assortment delivers the target gross margin.
- Compute IMU per category:
(AUR − unit cost) ÷ AUR - Apply markdown exposure: blended margin =
(full-price units × full-price margin + markdown units × markdown margin) ÷ total units - Roll up to a weighted total gross margin %
- Compare to margin goal; flag any category with blended margin more than 3 pts below the goal
- Call out the markdown-heavy categories dragging the blend
Step 3: Test Inventory & Open-to-Buy Fit
Confirm the buy fits within inventory constraints.
- Total receipt cost =
Σ (units × unit cost)— compare to open-to-buy budget - Compute implied weeks of supply:
(units ÷ projected weekly sell-through)vs. target WOS - Flag categories where receipts exceed OTB or push WOS beyond the target ceiling
- Identify under-bought categories (WOS below floor) that risk early stockouts
Step 4: Assess Mix, Depth & Breadth
Check that investment is allocated where the strategy wants it.
- Calculate each category's share of units and share of revenue; compare to mix priorities
- Flag breadth/depth imbalances: too many SKUs at thin depth (assortment too wide to sell through) or too few SKUs at heavy depth (concentration risk)
- Verify hero/newness weighting matches stated priorities
- Surface any category over-indexed on units but under-indexed on margin contribution
Step 5: Score Overall Alignment
Assign a status across the three pillars:
- Revenue: Aligned / At Risk / Misaligned (with the gap)
- Margin: Aligned / At Risk / Misaligned (with the pts gap)
- Inventory/OTB: Aligned / At Risk / Misaligned (with the $ or WOS gap)
- Give a one-line overall verdict: ship as-is, revise, or rebuild.
Step 6: Prioritized Fix List
List corrective actions ranked by impact on closing the largest gap. Each fix states: what to change, the category affected, the expected effect (e.g., "Cut Accessories SKU count 40→25, redeploy units to Tops depth → +$280K revenue, +1.2 pts margin").
Output Format
- Structure: Six sections matching the steps; pillar scorecard up top; fix list as a ranked numbered table
- Length: 800–1,200 words
- Format: Mix of short prose diagnosis and tables (revenue bridge, margin by category, OTB fit)
- Sections: Alignment Scorecard → Revenue Bridge → Margin Check → Inventory/OTB Fit → Mix & Depth → Prioritized Fix List
- Tone: Merchandise planner partnering with merchants — financially rigorous, plainspoken, decision-forcing, never hedging the verdict
Quality Checklist
Before delivering output, verify:
- [ ] Projected net sales is computed and compared to the revenue target in both $ and %
- [ ] Blended gross margin is weighted by units and includes markdown exposure — not just IMU
- [ ] Total receipt cost is checked against open-to-buy and weeks of supply against target
- [ ] Each of the three pillars has an explicit Aligned/At Risk/Misaligned status
- [ ] Every assumption used in place of a missing input is flagged
- [ ] The fix list is ranked by gap-closing impact with quantified effect per action
Notes
- Margin misalignment usually hides in markdown exposure, not IMU — always check the blended figure, not just first markup.
- The most common failure is an assortment that's too broad: many SKUs at thin depth that can't sell through full-price, which simultaneously misses revenue and inflates markdown.
- When the assortment is short on revenue, prefer adding depth to proven categories over adding SKU breadth — depth is lower risk to the margin and OTB.
How to use this skill
This file is a Claude Code skill in Anthropic's standard format — markdown with YAML frontmatter at the top.
Installing in Claude Code:
~/.claude/skills/<folder-name>/SKILL.md— auto-loads in every session anywhere on your machine (recommended for skills you'll use across multiple projects)<your-project>/.claude/skills/<folder-name>/SKILL.md— auto-loads only when working in that project (recommended for project-specific skills)
Restart Claude Code or open a new session to register.
Using in Claude.ai, ChatGPT, Gemini, or other AI tools:
- Drag this file into a new chat, or copy and paste its contents
- Send your task or request as your next message — the AI will apply the skill where it fits
For Claude Code skill details: https://docs.anthropic.com/en/docs/claude-code/skills