Merchandise Planning Consultancy

Right stock. Right time. Right quantity.

Marisa Senekal Planning offers merchandise planning services, helping retailers ensure the right items are available in the right quantities, at the right time, and in the right locations to improve forecast accuracy, maintain healthier inventory levels, and maximise profitability.

Working with retailers across Africa and Europe.

We help retailers, wholesalers and e-commerce businesses, from start-ups to established large companies, to:

  • Improve or set up merchandise planning templates and processes. We offer training and hand everything back, so your team stays independent. Alternatively, we can continue to manage the process for you, without the cost of a full-time hire.
  • Support on a short-term basis for busy periods, interim cover, and maternity or parental leave cover.
Book a free 30-min consultation →
Experience across
Nike
Converse
Foot Locker
Essity
Soviet
Services

Planning across the full season cycle

From buying the right styles before the season starts, to protecting margin week by week, to turning results into next season's advantage.

01

Pre-Season Planning

Buy the right styles, in the right quantities, before the season starts. This includes top-down to bottom-up planning across revenue, sales units, margin, inventory, traffic and conversion, depending on the KPIs that suit your business model best.

Includes, depending on your model
  • Range plans: how much to buy per style, markdown planning, sell-through targets
  • SKU count optimisation: the exact number of styles to be most productive and profitable
  • Open-to-Buy (OTB) per business, country, division, category or style
  • Size curve planning: how much per style, per size, you will need
  • Traffic and conversion planning: how many people need to enter your website or store, and make a purchase, to make the sales plan work
02

In-Season Management

Protect your margin week by week with sell-through trackers to optimise sales and margin. We also look at in-season markdowns.

Includes, depending on your model
  • Weekly sell-through and inventory trackers
  • Markdown plans: exact style, timing, and depth to clear slow sellers while preserving margin
  • OTB and ladder plans per division or category
03

Post-Season Hindsight

Turn last season's results into next season's advantage. We run a full performance analysis by style, colour, size, country, price point, and traffic to make informed decisions for the next season.

Includes, depending on your model
  • Full hindsight review at style and colour level
  • Colour analysis
  • Style analysis
  • Traffic and conversion rate analysis
  • Country, store or province analysis (top styles per market)
  • Learnings and recommendations for next season
04

Interim & Cover Support

Merchandise planning support on a short-term basis, for maternity cover, a gap between hires, or peak-season capacity.

Available for
  • Maternity and parental leave cover
  • Gap cover between permanent hires
  • Peak-season capacity support
  • Remote working, with in-person client meetings in Pretoria and Johannesburg possible. Periodic on-site visits elsewhere in South Africa or the Netherlands by arrangement.
MS
Marisa Senekal
About

A decade of planning, across two continents

I am Marisa Senekal, a South African merchandise planning consultant with over 10 years of experience across South Africa and Europe. I have worked for well-known, fast-paced international brands including Nike, Converse, Foot Locker and Soviet. I have planned for up to $1 billion in annual revenue across 38 countries, down to much smaller businesses.

My career spans the full planning cycle across stores, wholesale, and e-commerce, across menswear, womenswear, and kidswear, and footwear, apparel, and accessories.

I hold a Masters in Consumer Science (Clothing Retail Management) from the University of Pretoria, and I am currently completing my PhD in Consumer Science at Pretoria.

I hold both South African and Dutch nationality, which means I am well placed to work with clients on both continents. Physical site visits can be arranged in South Africa and the Netherlands.

Nike Converse Foot Locker Soviet MSc Consumer Science PhD (in progress)

Let's talk planning.

Whether you're planning a new season, sitting on excess stock, need cover for a team member, or want to build planning capability from scratch, tell me what you are working with and we will find the right approach together.

Based between South Africa and Europe
Remote engagements worldwide · on-site by arrangement

Prefer email? I usually reply within one working day.