The Expert Guide to Merchandise Financial Planning

Strengthen your planning capabilities with better strategies, efficient teams, and modern technology.

Merchandise financial planning, or MFP, is a critical retail business process in which companies aim to align enterprise-wide strategic financial plans to the execution of goals shared across functional areas. When done well, MFP establishes consumer-centric, omnichannel financial guidelines for retail inventory profitability and operational productivity.

In this expert guide, we provide a comprehensive overview of the retail merchandise financial planning business process and touch on related functional areas. We also address common mistakes and challenges The Parker Avery Group has witnessed through many client projects focused on MFP. Further, we explore MFP best practices and innovations that can help improve this key retail capability.

CONTENTS

What is merchandise financial planning (MFP)?

What MFP capabilities are the most important?

What common challenges exist with merchandise financial planning?

What characteristics are needed to excel with MFP?

What innovations can improve a company’s MFP capabilities?