# Build an open-to-buy plan for next season

A month-by-month open-to-buy plan at retail and cost that shows how much I can still buy and where I'm overbought.

- Topic: Finance & Accounting
- Framework: Few-Shot
- Level: Standard
- Tags: Sales, Finance, Plan, Fill-in Template
- Source: https://www.thinkwithprompt.com/prompts/build-an-open-to-buy-plan-for-next-season

## Prompt

```text
Help me build an open-to-buy (OTB) plan for my next season.

**Category or department:** [NAME]
**Planning period:** [e.g. "Feb-Jul, by month"]
**Planned sales by month:** [AT RETAIL - or last year's actuals plus my growth assumption]
**Planned markdowns and promotions by month:** [$ OR % OF SALES]
**Beginning-of-month inventory now:** [AT RETAIL]
**Target inventory levels:** [e.g. "BOM stock-to-sales ratio of 3.0" or planned EOM inventory by month]
**Inventory already on order:** [BY DELIVERY MONTH, AT RETAIL]
**Initial markup %:** [to convert retail to cost]

Use the retail method: planned purchases = planned sales + planned markdowns + planned end-of-month inventory - beginning-of-month inventory. OTB = planned purchases - on order.

Return:
1. A month-by-month table: BOM inventory, sales, markdowns, EOM inventory, planned purchases, on order, OTB at retail, OTB at cost.
2. Months where OTB is negative (overbought), with options: cancel, push delivery, shift to another month, or plan a promotion.
3. How much OTB to hold back for in-season reorders and opportunistic buys, with reasoning.
4. Sensitivity: OTB if sales come in 10% below and 10% above plan.
5. Assumptions I should confirm with finance.

Show the formulas so I can rebuild this in a spreadsheet. Do not fill gaps with made-up figures; mark them [ADD].
```

## What to fill in

- NAME
- e.g. "Feb-Jul, by month"
- AT RETAIL - or last year's actuals plus my growth assumption
- AT RETAIL
- BY DELIVERY MONTH, AT RETAIL
- to convert retail to cost
- ADD

Free to copy and use. From ThinkWithPrompt (https://www.thinkwithprompt.com/), a library of 2,663 curated AI prompts.