This page is for a factory merchandiser who receives a retailer's own store-level allocation instructions and must pack and label cartons against them, and for the buyer who has to build that allocation before it ever reaches the factory. At work, a merchandiser who receives only a total shipment quantity and a store list, with no store-by-store split, cannot pack a single carton correctly. This lesson mainly teaches the product flow: it shows how a shipment quantity is physically split into store-specific cartons, using each store's own selling potential as the basis for the split.
Fairway Stores has a 1,000-piece first shipment of Order A ready to leave Delta Garments' factory, and four representative stores waiting for their own share. Without a selling-potential-based allocation, Mona, the merchandiser packing this shipment, has no way to know that the flagship store should receive far more cartons than the smallest of the four; a wrong split reaches every store already boxed and labelled, and re-sorting stock after it lands is slow and costly.
You need: lesson T21-C01-L01, which shows what allocation decides that open-to-buy and a season plan do not.
By the end of this lesson you can:
Not covered here: choosing between allocation methods such as even spread, size curve or store cluster, covered in lesson T21-C01-L03, and reading real sell-through to decide where a later shipment goes, covered in lesson T21-C01-L04.
| Term | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Store allocation | Splitting a confirmed shipment quantity across a retailer's own stores or shops, rather than shipping it all to one central point. |
| Selling potential | An estimate of how much a specific store is likely to sell, usually built from that store's own past weekly sales rate for a similar style. |
| Allocation ratio | Each store's own selling potential expressed as a share of the total selling potential across all stores receiving the shipment. |
| Weekly sales rate | The average number of pieces of a style sold in one week, found by dividing total pieces sold by the number of weeks elapsed. |
| Comparable style | A previously sold style similar enough to a new one that its own past sales are used to estimate the new style's own selling potential. |
| Carton | A packed unit of stock labelled for one specific store, built directly from that store's own share of an allocation. |
Selling-potential allocation gives each store a share of a shipment equal to that store's own share of the total selling potential across every store receiving the shipment. A store responsible for 40% of the total selling potential across the group receives 40% of the shipment, not an equal one-quarter, one-tenth, or whatever an equal split across the store count would produce. This keeps stock concentrated where it is most likely to sell quickly, rather than spread according to store count alone.
| What can differ | The shapes you will meet | Why it matters |
|---|---|---|
| Export first shipment, Make to Order | Delta Garments packs Order A's own first 1,000-piece shipment against Fairway Stores' allocation, built from a comparable style's own past weekly sales rate. | With no sales history of its own, the allocation is only as good as the comparable style chosen; a poor match risks a wrong split from the very first shipment. |
| Domestic Make to Stock reorder | A domestic retailer such as Cedar & Co. allocates a reorder across its own 12 shops using each shop's own real, recent sell-through instead of a comparable style. | Once real sales data exists, allocation no longer needs to borrow from a different style, and the ratios can shift as actual demand becomes clearer. |
| Hybrid model, later reorder | A first batch uses estimated selling potential; once real sell-through exists, a later reorder switches to each store's own actual results. | The allocation ratios calculated in this lesson are not permanent; they are recalculated once better information exists. |
| A style with very uneven store selling potential | A style aimed at a specific customer profile can concentrate most of its selling potential in only one or two of a retailer's own stores. | A selling-potential allocation can legitimately send most of a small first shipment to very few stores, which can look wrong to someone expecting an even spread. |
Fairway Stores has four representative stores receiving Order A's own first shipment: a flagship store, a large store, a mid-size store, and a small-format store. Using each store's own weekly sales rate on a comparable T-shirt style last season, the total selling potential across the four stores is 50 pieces per week, made up of 20, 15, 10 and 5 pieces respectively. Mona uses these four shares to split the 1,000-piece shipment before a single carton is packed.
Mona repeats the same method for each remaining store: the large store's own ratio of 15/50, or 30%, earns it 300 pieces; the mid-size store's own ratio of 10/50, or 20%, earns it 200 pieces; and the small-format store's own ratio of 5/50, or 10%, earns it 100 pieces. The four cartons, 400, 300, 200 and 100 pieces, add back up to the full 1,000-piece shipment.
The methodA common mistake is a merchandiser rounding each store's own calculated carton size to a convenient packing number, such as a full case quantity, without then checking that the rounded totals still add up to the full shipment. Order A's own first shipment of 1,000 pieces splits cleanly into 400, 300, 200 and 100 pieces because the underlying ratios were chosen to divide evenly, but a real shipment with less convenient ratios can round to a total a few pieces above or below the confirmed shipment quantity, leaving either unpacked stock sitting at the factory or a shortfall discovered only once cartons are already sealed.
To split a shipment fairly across stores, first work out how much each store is likely to sell compared with the others, using a similar style's own past sales if the new style has none of its own yet. Give each store that same share of the shipment. A store responsible for four-tenths of the total selling potential should get four-tenths of the pieces, not an equal slice just because there happen to be four stores. Always add the store totals back up to make sure they equal the whole shipment before anything is packed.
Fairway Stores has sent Delta Garments its own allocation ratios for the four representative stores receiving Order A's own first shipment: 40%, 30%, 20% and 10%. The shipment itself is 1,000 pieces, and Mona must pack and label one carton per store before the truck leaves for the port this afternoon.
How many pieces does the mid-size store's own carton need? Decide before opening the answer.
200 pieces. The mid-size store's own allocation ratio of 20% is applied directly to the shipment total.
First, the shipment total is confirmed at 1,000 pieces, the figure both Delta Garments and Fairway Stores agreed against the WSSI in the previous lesson's own decision chain.
Second, the mid-size store's own allocation ratio is 20%, meaning 1,000 x 0.20 = 200 pieces.
Mona packs 200 pieces into the mid-size store's own carton, then confirms all four cartons, 400, 300, 200 and 100 pieces, add up to the full 1,000-piece shipment before the truck is loaded.
Using this lesson's own illustrative figures:
Four pieces left unpacked at Delta Garments looks trivial on its own, but at Fairway Stores' own shop price of USD 19.90 per piece, those four pieces represent USD 79.60 of sales that cannot happen at any store until someone notices the shortfall and arranges a separate, smaller shipment to correct it, an avoidable delay entirely caused by skipping the final check step in the method above.
Open the course workbook's "Selling potential allocation" sheet. Enter each store's own weekly sales rate; the sheet then calculates each store's own allocation ratio and carton size automatically, and flags any rounded total that does not match the confirmed shipment quantity.
[Download the Store allocation worksheet](../../templates/T21-C01-store-allocation-worksheet.xlsx)
1. How is a store's own carton size calculated from its selling potential?
2. Four stores have weekly sales rates of 30, 20, 10 and 10 pieces on a comparable style. What allocation ratio does the store with a rate of 10 pieces receive?
| EN | AR | FR | TR | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Store allocation | توزيع المحلات | Répartition entre magasins | Mağaza tahsisi | Splitting a confirmed shipment quantity across a retailer's own stores or shops, rather than shipping it all to one central point. |
| Selling potential | إمكانية البيع | Potentiel de vente | Satış potansiyeli | An estimate of how much a specific store is likely to sell, usually built from that store's own past weekly sales rate for a similar style. |
| Allocation ratio | نسبة التوزيع | Ratio de répartition | Tahsis oranı | Each store's own selling potential expressed as a share of the total selling potential across all stores receiving the shipment. |
| Weekly sales rate | معدل المبيعات الأسبوعي | Taux de vente hebdomadaire | Haftalık satış oranı | The average number of pieces of a style sold in one week, found by dividing total pieces sold by the number of weeks elapsed. |
| Comparable style | طراز مماثل | Modèle comparable | Karşılaştırılabilir model | A previously sold style similar enough to a new one that its own past sales are used to estimate the new style's own selling potential. |
| Carton | كرتونة | Carton | Koli | A packed unit of stock labelled for one specific store, built directly from that store's own share of an allocation. |
You now know how to allocate a first shipment across stores by their own selling potential. The next lesson shows the other allocation methods available and when each one actually fits. Back to the course map