The Connected Buying Workflow

Who this guide is for

• Buying & merchandising leaders responsible for building profitable assortments at speed
• Planning & finance leaders accountable for margin, inventory health and forecast accuracy
• Sourcing & supply chain leaders balancing cost, lead time, compliance and capacity

This guide is designed for teams influencing buying decisions, from high-level strategy to in-season execution.

Retail buying has changed. More seasons. Shorter lead times. Fragmented channels. The pace accelerated. The tools didn’t.

What’s changed:

• More seasons, less time: Capsule drops, micro-collections and micro-trends reshaped the calendar as four seasons became eight then twelve, while lead times collapsed from nine months to just four.
• Channel complexity exploded: DTC, wholesale, marketplaces, pop-ups and social commerce each demand distinct assortments, pricing strategies and inventory requirements.
• Consumer expectations shifted: Fast fashion sets the pace. Sustainability raised the stakes. Personalization became table stakes while regulatory scrutiny and compliance requirements added new constraints on materials, sourcing, labeling and supplier transparency.

The real problem isn’t the pace. It’s the disconnect.

Data lives in silos, so decisions get made in isolation. Teams move in parallel instead of together. Buyers build assortments without real-time cost and margin visibility, sourcing negotiates without demand signals, compliance teams review products after decisions are already locked and supply chain allocates inventory without channel performance context and finance only reviews margin after choices are already locked.

The result is predictable and measurable: margin erosion, excess inventory, stockouts on winners and missed revenue, all of which show up directly in core Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) like gross margin, sell-through, inventory turns, full-price realization and cash flow.

Let’s walk through the end-to-end buying workflow from market strategy to in-season optimization and show how leading retailers connect data, decisions and teams to buy smarter, faster and more profitably.

The framework: Discover → Define → Decide → Deliver → Dial-In

Modern buying isn’t linear, but it follows a rhythm. Here’s how best-in-class teams structure the workflow:

Step 1: Discover – market, consumer & line strategy

What happens

Buyers and merchants set the strategic direction for the season — defining where to play and how to win. Which categories will drive growth? Which trends are worth betting on? What worked last season and what didn’t?

At this stage, teams are balancing competing priorities:

• Designers are pushing new, innovative concepts to keep the assortment fresh and differentiated
• Buyers are responsible for developing and sourcing those ideas in a cost-effective way
• Merchandising and planning are naturally risk-averse, looking for data-backed proof that new directions will perform

Decisions are shaped by last season’s results, yet insights are often confined to internal performance alone. Expanding the lens to include market performance, competitive outcomes and consumer sentiment provides a broader, more objective foundation for planning. The more complete the insight, the stronger the decisions heading into the season.

Data needed

• Market trends and competitive intelligence
• Historical sales performance by category, channel, location
• Consumer feedback (reviews, returns, social sentiment)
• Inventory sell-through and markdown rates
• Supplier performance and lead times
• Sustainability attributes, material certifications and regulatory requirements by market

Common bottlenecks

• Siloed data
  Trend reports live in one system, sales and margin data in another and supplier details in spreadsheets — making it hard to build a single, trusted view of the business.
• Disconnected collaboration across teams
  Designers and buyers focus on creativity, innovation and market direction, while planners and merchandisers work from financial targets and risk controls. Each group relies on its own data and insights often reaching very different conclusions without a shared foundation.
• Late insights
  Competitive and market signals arrive after line direction is already set, limiting the ability to course-correct before commitments are made.
• Gut-driven decisions
  With limited visibility into what drove performance last season (internally and in the broader market) teams fall back on instinct instead of evidence.
• Compliance blind spots
  Sustainability claims, material restrictions or market-specific regulations aren’t validated early — increasing the risk of rework, delayed launches or blocked assortments later.

Why this step matters by role

• Buying & merchandising: Set direction with confidence, not gut feel
• Planning: Anchor strategy in demand and financial reality
• Supply chain & sourcing: Flag feasibility, lead time and compliance risks early

How modern tools fix it

Centric Market Intelligence™ delivers real-time competitive pricing, assortment and trend insights. Teams stop guessing. They see what the market demands and act before competitors do. Centric Planning™ surfaces historical performance patterns and demand signals. Margin guardrails guide decisions from the start—not after the damage is done. Centric PLM™ connects product performance, material choices, certifications and compliance requirements back to buying and sourcing decisions. Teams see what sells, what doesn’t and why, then build the next assortment smarter.

The result: Buyers brief the season with data, not guesswork.

Step 2: Define – assortment, targets & margin guardrails

What happens

Translate strategy into a buyable plan. Set category targets, margin goals, channel mix and pricing architecture. Build the assortment framework. If buying, planning and merchandising aren’t working from the same assumptions here, misalignment will surface later as margin erosion, overbuying or missed opportunities.

Who’s involved

• Buying/Merchandising (lead)
• Planning (financial targets, inventory constraints)
• Finance (margin requirements, OTB budgets)
• Allocation (channel/location strategy)

Data needed

• Financial targets (revenue, margin, inventory turn)
• Category performance trends
• Channel-specific assortment needs
• Pricing and promotional strategy
• Space/capacity constraints by location

Common bottlenecks

• Margin erosion: Costs climb. Targets do not. Teams chase last year’s margin while everything costs more, then discover the gap too late.
• Hidden compliance costs: Sustainable materials, testing, labeling and documentation requirements impact margin but are often not modeled until late in the process.
• Channel chaos: DTC, wholesale, marketplaces and retail each require different assortments, pricing and inventory. Teams plan in silos and chaos follows.
• Misalignment: Buying builds plans in one spreadsheet. Finance builds another. Different assumptions. Different numbers. No alignment.
• Overcomplication: Multiple plan versions, multiple tools and multiple sources of truth leave teams unsure which numbers to trust.

How modern tools fix it

Centric Planning connects financial planning, merchandise strategy and assortment planning. Buyers and planners work from the same targets, the same scenarios, the same truth.

Margin, width, depth and sustainability and compliance constraints—the guardrails that matter are built in from day one. Teams define the right mix and buy with precision. No surprises. No margin erosion. No guesswork.

The result: Assortment plans that balance growth, margin and inventory health.

Step 3: Decide – vendor, costing & commit decisions

What happens

Teams evaluate demand and supply inputs to make final commit decisions. Suppliers are negotiated and selected; costs are finalized and buy quantities are confirmed. Lead times, minimum order quantities and payment terms are agreed upon and locked in, establishing clear commitments that balance demand expectations, supply constraints and financial objectives. This is the point of no return. Every late insight here turns into cost, delay or compromise downstream.

Who’s involved

• Buying/Merchandising (lead)
• Sourcing (vendor negotiations, costing)
• Product Development (specs, materials, quality)
• Finance (cost approval, payment terms)
• Supply Chain (lead times, capacity)

Data needed

• Vendor performance history (quality, reliability, on-time delivery, cost performance)
• Cost of goods sold (COGS) and overall cost inputs
• Material compliance standards, sustainability certifications and regulatory requirements by region
• Lead times and production capacity
• Minimum order quantity (MOQ) requirements
• Currency, duties and tariff considerations

Common bottlenecks

• Communication chaos: Costing negotiations spread across emails, spreadsheets and shared documents, creating version control headaches and lost context.
• Limited visibility: Buyers lack a clear view of the trade-offs between cost, lead time and quality when making decisions.
• Late compliance validation: Material or supplier compliance issues surface after costing and commitments are made, forcing supplier changes, delays or margin compromises.
• Slow approvals: Finance reviews costs after decisions are made, forcing rework, delays and last-minute changes.

How modern tools fix it

Centric PLM centralizes vendor data, costing and approvals alongside material compliance, sustainability attributes and certification tracking. Buyers see real-time cost breakdowns, material options and lead times. Sourcing connects directly with suppliers through the vendor portal—streamlining collaboration, eliminating email & spreadsheet chaos, while keeping everyone aligned. Finance reviews and approves without leaving the platform.

The result: Faster decisions, fewer errors, better margin protection.

Step 4: Deliver – supply, allocation & inbound flow

What happens

Convert buy commitments into purchase orders. Manage production timelines while ensuring supplier compliance, documentation and market-specific requirements are met before goods ship. Plan allocation strategy. Coordinate inbound logistics.

Who’s involved

• Supply Chain (lead)
• Buying/Merchandising (buy changes, priority shifts)
• Allocation (channel/location distribution)
• Planning (demand forecasting, inventory targets)
• Sourcing (vendor coordination)

Data needed

• Production schedules and lead times
• Inbound shipment tracking
• Demand forecasts by channel/location
• Inventory capacity (DC, stores, fulfillment centers)
• Allocation rules and strategies

Common bottlenecks

• Last-minute changes: Buying shifts quantities or timing without supply chain visibility. Production pauses. Finished goods sit idle. Margin erodes.
• Demand-supply mismatch: Allocation decisions made without updated demand signals
• Compliance-related delays: Missing documentation, testing or labeling requirements slow inbound flow and disrupt allocations.
• Fragmented communication: POs in ERP, production updates in email, allocation in spreadsheets

How modern tools fix it

Centric PLM connects buying decisions to supply chain execution. Centric Planning aligns demand forecasts with inventory flow. Centric Pricing & Inventory optimizes allocation based on real-time demand signals and channel performance.

The result: Inventory flows to the right place at the right time, reducing stockouts and overstock.

Step 5: Dial-In – in-season optimization & learnings

What happens

Monitor performance. React to winners and losers. Execute markdowns, promotions, chase orders, transfers and exit strategies. Capture learnings for the next buy.

Who’s involved

• Buying/Merchandising (lead)
• Planning (demand sensing, reforecasting)
• Allocation (transfers, rebalancing)
• Pricing (markdown strategy)
• Finance (margin protection)

Data needed

• Real-time sales performance by SKU, channel, location
• Inventory levels and sell-through rates
• Competitive pricing and promotional activity
• Customer feedback and returns data
• Margin performance vs. plan

Common bottlenecks

• Slow read-and-react: Weekly reports instead of real-time dashboards
• Limited visibility: Can’t see performance across channels in one view
• Repeating mistakes: Learnings don’t feed back into the next buy cycle

How a connected platform empowers teams

Centric Software® solutions connect execution to intelligence. Real-time visibility into sell-through, pricing, markdowns and competitive moves keeps teams agile through the season. Performance data, including how sustainability attributes perform by channel and market, flows directly into demand models so next season’s plan builds on what actually sold, what competitors did and where margin lived. Every cycle gets smarter.

The result: Faster reactions, protected margins and continuous improvement.

Failure Point #1: Forecast and buy decisions disconnected from real constraints

The scenario

Buyers commit big—optimistic forecasts, pressure to launch untested products, aggressive timelines. Supply chain can’t deliver that fast. Sourcing hits minimum order quantities that force overbuying. The plan collapses before production begins.

What best-in-class teams do differently

They connect demand planning, buying and supply chain constraints in real time. Buyers see lead times, MOQs and capacity before committing. Scenarios model trade-offs between speed, cost and risk.

How a connected platform empowers teams

Centric Planning and Centric PLM connect demand forecasting with supply chain reality. Buyers see vendor lead times, minimum order quantities and capacity constraints before committing—not after the plan is set. Scenarios get modeled against operational reality, not optimistic assumptions. Growth targets meet what’s actually achievable. The plan holds.

Failure Point #2: Late cost/price decisions leading to margin compression

The scenario

Buyers pick styles and quantities. Costing comes later. Retail prices get set on assumptions, not reality. Final costs arrive. Margin collapses. Finance pushes back. Buyers scramble—cut assortments, accept margin erosion or compromise product quality to make the numbers work.

What best-in-class teams do differently

Margin guardrails stay visible through every decision—not just set at the start and checked at the end. Cost-to-retail ratios track live. Costing and pricing happen together. Teams see problems while they can still fix them.

How a connected platform empowers teams

As buyers build assortments in Centric Planning, Centric PLM feeds live costing data directly into the platform. Margin targets stay visible. Styles that fall outside guardrails get flagged immediately—not at the end. When it’s time to set pricing, Centric Pricing & Inventory uses that same cost data plus competitive intelligence and demand signals to optimize strategies. One platform. One truth. No surprises.

Failure Point #3: Fragmented product data creating errors between teams and systems

The scenario

Product specs, sustainability attributes and compliance data live in PLM. Costing lives in spreadsheets. Assortment plans live in planning tools. POs live in ERP. When data doesn’t sync, errors multiply. Wrong costs. Wrong specs. Wrong quantities. Rework and delays cascade.

What best-in-class teams do differently

They maintain a single source of truth for product data that flows seamlessly between systems. Product specs, costing, assortments and POs stay synchronized.

How a connected platform empowers teams

Centric PLM provides a single source of truth for product data. That data seamlessly flows into Centric Planning™, where teams build assortments and align financial plans. From there, Centric PXM™ syndicates consistent, accurate product content across every channel, while integrations with ERP systems ensure purchase orders always reflect the most up-to-date information.

Failure Point #4: Poor collaboration between buying, sourcing and supply chain

The scenario

Buying makes decisions in isolation. Sourcing finds out later and scrambles to execute. Supply chain discovers constraints that force changes. Teams work in parallel, not together. Decisions get revisited. Timelines slip.

What best-in-class teams do differently

They collaborate in real time, with shared visibility into decisions, trade-offs and constraints. Buying, sourcing and supply chain work from the same data and communicate in-platform.

How a connected platform empowers teams

Centric PLM connects buying, sourcing and product development in one platform. Buyers see vendor performance and lead times. Sourcing tracks approvals and costing. Supply chain monitors production timelines. Everyone works from the same source of truth.

Failure Point #5: Limited visibility into actual performance vs. initial plan

The scenario

The season ends. Finance reports margin performance. Buyers discover which categories over-performed and which underperformed. But the insights come too late to inform the next buy. The cycle repeats.

What best-in-class teams do differently

They track performance in real time and capture learnings continuously. Post-season reviews feed directly into the next season’s planning. Performance data informs demand models, assortment strategies and vendor decisions.

How a connected platform empowers teams

Throughout the season, Centric Planning continuously compares actual performance against plan. Teams gain deeper insight by leveraging Centric Pricing & Inventory™, which tracks sell-through, markdowns and margins by SKU, channel and location. Centric Market Intelligence adds competitive context by benchmarking performance against the market—ensuring insights and learnings feed directly back into more accurate demand forecasting and smarter future assortment planning.

The buying workflow doesn’t have to break

More seasons. Shorter lead times. Fragmented channels. The pressure isn’t going away but with the right tools, teams keep up with the pace.

Leading retailers don’t work harder, they work smarter. They connect data, decisions and teams across the entire buying workflow.

The result:

• Faster decisions with better visibility
• Protected margins through the entire process
• Aligned teams working from one source of truth
• Continuous improvement from season to season

The opportunity is clear.

Map your workflow. Identify the gaps. Connect the pieces.