What it is
Next was a lifestyle retailer in the Cleveland market with doors at Randall, Beachwood and Coventry. It was one of the accounts Khounlavong carried as Nike Sportswear boutique rep for the upper Midwest. He had known the account since his first year at Nike, when he attended the LeBron Chamber of Fear event with Next in Cleveland.
His fiscal 2010 review records a strategic plan created and communicated for four key accounts: Pener's, Mr. Alan's, Playmakers, and Next in Cleveland. Each plan ran on the same five objectives.
What Khounlavong did
- Wrote the mission for Next: to reposition it as the leading lifestyle brand in Ohio through the lens of Nike Sportswear, with trend relevant product, premium presentation and customer service.
- Defined the consumer as urban, indie and sports inspired, and set the aim to be the destination for Ohio's fashionable alpha male.
- Decided the assortment by door. Randall was planned as an urban door. Beachwood and Coventry were planned as indie doors.
- Set five objectives: be relevant to the consumer, ignite sustainable growth, partner for profitable growth, deliver premium consumer experiences, and be easy to do business with.
- Set the fiscal 2011 initiatives under each: head to toe assortments directed monthly, assortments planned from marketplace data and sales, growth in boots and casual footwear, mutual financial targets on key retail metrics, seasonal business meetings to compare forecasts and plans with performance, and events around key initiatives, customer appreciation and relevant sporting events.
- Tied ordering to the stock to sales plan, with sales performance reviewed consistently.
- Wrote door growth into the other plans. The Pener's plan called for expansion into Phoenix and Birmingham. The Mr. Alan's plan called for expansion into Minneapolis, and he served up locations to the retailer there.
- Used the Next plan as his example of strategic planning when he interviewed for Los Angeles in August 2010.
Results
- Four account plans written and communicated in fiscal 2010.
- The plans carry a table for net bookings and door growth. The values did not survive in the files.
- No sales result for Next is recorded. This page rests on the plan and on the decisions in it.
At a glance
| Project type | Account strategy |
|---|---|
| Industry | Athletic and lifestyle footwear |
| Seat | Regional Boutique Account Executive, Nike Sportswear |
| Ran through | Nike |
| Dates | Fiscal 2010. The Next plan file is dated August 2010 |
| Location | Cleveland, Ohio |
| Related pages | Jimmy Khounlavong, The Midwest boutiques: open, invest, divest, harvest |
| Principal | Jimmy Khounlavong |