Journal · 17 June 2025
Category briefs buyers will actually open
Writing category performance notes that multi-branch retail buyers read before open-to-buy meetings.
Buyers skim. A twenty-page category dump loses to a four-page brief with three charts and one uncomfortable sentence about the weakest branch.
Lead with contribution, not vanity totals
Show each branch’s share of category sales and margin where available. Totals without contribution invite the loudest store to dominate the meeting.
Name the decision
Every brief should end with the decision it supports: cut open-to-buy, rebalance sizes, or hold. If there is no decision, the brief is a diary entry.
Keep the vocabulary local
Write “Sukhumvit weekdays” and “Pattaya weekend discounting,” not “Segment A underperformed.” Sales performance analytics for multi-branch retailers works when the page sounds like the buying room.