Oliver's Wine and Spirits Department game plan and strategies

Scrutinize past year or so's worth of invoices and purchase orders to learn methods, buying strategies, trends, and quantities.

Determine list of vendors and contact number.

Create appointment calendar, contact vendors to make acquaintance, set up times.

Learn how decisions are made with regard to individual store's needs, i.e. Do main vendors take inventory at all three stores and then have the potential order approved by the buyer or does the buyer keep a running inventory and then make buying decisions accordingly.

Understand budgets, goals, and objectives.

Understand how verbiage about wines translates to POS.

Understand how price changes are input and transmitted.

Learn communications methods.

Learn how newsletter works – length of articles, wine of the month, graphics.

Visit the other two stores to view the sets, meet the staff, take a look at the inventories, and get a feel for excesses and deficiencies.

Develop a simple questionnaire to go over verbally with the leads and backups in each store with such questions as “what do you feel is in overabundance in the department?, what is underrepresented?, what works well?, what doesn't work?, how can I make it better for you and me as well?”.

If one doesn't exist, create a master inventory list of wines in all of the stores to get the big picture. From this, see what has become stagnant, what multi case lots are in the backs of the stores which can go to the floor, what can be transferred between stores to hasten movement and reduce inventory, what needs to be discounted to move out, what is missing and is therefore at the top of the list for new or reorder, and what is beyond hope.

Develop schedule and hours.

Develop weekly itinerary.

Richard Williams

2009-02-10T17:09:39

Richard Williams