Guide
Open to buy software: what it is, how to calculate it, and how to choose.
Open to buy is the amount you can still commit without breaking the plan. Getting it right is the difference between a season that funds itself and one that ties up cash in stock nobody wanted. This is how it works, when a spreadsheet stops being enough, and what to look for in a tool — particularly if you buy on indent.
What open to buy means
Open to buy is the gap between the stock your plan says you should receive in a period and the stock you have already committed to — on order, on indent, or already in the building.
It answers one question: how much can I still spend? Every other buying metric describes what happened. Open to buy is the only one that tells you what you can still do about it.
A positive figure is headroom. A negative one means you have committed more than the plan supports, and the season will correct it for you — through markdown.
How to calculate open to buy
At retail
Planned closing stock
+ Planned sales for the period
+ Planned markdowns
− Opening stock
− Stock already on order
= Open to buy
Worked example — one month, one brand
| Planned closing stock | $400,000 |
| Planned sales | $180,000 |
| Planned markdowns | $20,000 |
| Less opening stock | −$420,000 |
| Less stock on order | −$60,000 |
| Open to buy, at retail | $120,000 |
| At 60% intake margin, at cost | $48,000 |
Run it at retail to see what the floor and the plan can absorb. Run it at cost to see what cash you can commit. Buyers negotiate in cost and plan in retail, so you need both — a tool that shows only one leaves half the decision uncovered.
The distinction most open to buy software ignores
Test and reorder
Commit small, close to the sale
Buy a little, watch sell-through, repeat what works. Open to buy is recalculated continuously and the decision is made at a desk, days after the data lands. Most planning tools are built for exactly this, because most of their customers are vertical brands who own their own production.
Indent
Commit months ahead, in a showroom
A multi-brand retailer writes the season at market, six months before the first sale, against a plan set before the last season finished. The order is placed in an appointment and reconciled weeks later from a notebook. Open to buy matters at exactly one moment — and it is not at a desk.
If you buy on indent, this is the question to put to any vendor: can the buyer see what is left to spend on this brand, while they are sitting in the appointment? Most answers will be some version of no.
When the spreadsheet stops working
A single door with a handful of brands runs open to buy in a spreadsheet, and should. It usually breaks somewhere between ten and twenty brands — the point where the file is out of date before the buying trip ends.
- The spreadsheet is rebuilt by hand before every buying trip
- Nobody can say what is left to spend on a given brand without opening three files
- Committed spend is a number someone typed in, not a number that reconciles
- Aged stock is reviewed at season end rather than before the next buy
- Two people hold different versions of the buy plan
- Orders written at market are reconciled weeks later, from a notebook
What to look for in open to buy software
Nine questions worth asking any vendor. The last four are where most tools built for vertical brands come apart on a multi-brand book.
Open to buy by brand, not only by category
A multi-brand retailer does not buy categories, they buy brands, and each brand has its own appointment, its own budget conversation and its own aged-stock problem. A tool that only plans at department level cannot tell a buyer what to spend in the room they are about to walk into.
Committed spend that nets off correctly
The committed figure has to include what is on order and what is on indent, and it has to handle a part-received order properly. A brand that shipped 70% of an order has released the other 30% back to your budget, and most systems never tell you.
Multiple currencies, at the rate of the day
If you buy from European houses you commit in euros and report in your own currency. The rate at commitment, the rate at receipt and the rate at payment are three different numbers, and the margin sits in the gap.
Aged stock read into the forward buy
Open to buy calculated without reference to what is already sitting there is a budget, not a decision. A brand carrying a year of cover should not be receiving more money because the plan says the category has room.
Available in the appointment
The commitment is made in a showroom, on a phone, with a sales agent waiting. If the position is only available at a desk, it is a report about a decision that has already been made.
Reconciliation after the season
What was written, what was confirmed, what actually arrived, and at what rate. Short shipments and late deliveries are normal in wholesale, and every one of them changes the position. Without reconciliation the committed figure drifts from reality within a season.
The decision, and why it was made
Six months later someone will ask why a brand was bought into at that level. A tool that keeps the recommendation, the override and the reasoning answers that. A spreadsheet does not.
The order comes in from where it was written
Orders are written in JOOR, NuOrder or the brand's own portal. If the buy then has to be re-keyed into a planning tool, it happens weeks later, from a confirmation email, and every transcription error lands in the committed figure. The order should arrive from the platform it was placed on.
Current at any point in the cycle
Sales, stock and aged position read live, not from a file someone exported on Monday. A buying decision decays by the day, and a buyer waiting for the spreadsheet to be rebuilt is deciding on a picture that is already a week old — usually the week that mattered.
How Laminir does it
The Buy Plan Agent goes to market with you.
Open to buy by brand and month, reading live off your trading data — no export, no overnight rebuild, current whenever you open it. Aged stock and outstanding commitment netted off, and a call against every brand each cycle: write, hold or clear, with the numbers behind it.
In the appointment, the buyer opens the brand brief, records what they have written, and uploads the order straight from JOOR or NuOrder. The open-to-buy position moves before the next appointment starts.
You leave the showroom knowing what it cost you, not hoping.
Open to buy, answered
What does open to buy mean?
Open to buy is the amount of stock you can still commit to for a given period without exceeding your plan. It is the gap between the stock your plan says you should receive and the stock you have already committed to — on order, on indent, or already in the building.
How do you calculate open to buy?
At retail: planned closing stock, plus planned sales, plus planned markdowns, less opening stock, less stock already on order. At cost, either run the same calculation in cost values or convert the retail figure using your intake margin.
Should open to buy be calculated at cost or at retail?
Both, for different purposes. Retail OTB tells you how much stock the floor and the plan can absorb. Cost OTB tells you how much cash you can commit. Buyers negotiate in cost and plan in retail, so a tool that only shows one of them leaves half the decision uncovered.
Do small retailers need open to buy software?
A single-door retailer with a handful of brands can run open to buy in a spreadsheet. It stops working when the number of brands, currencies and delivery windows means the spreadsheet is out of date before the buying trip ends — usually somewhere between ten and twenty brands.
What is the difference between open to buy for indent and for test-and-reorder?
Test-and-reorder buying commits in small amounts, close to the sale, and open to buy is recalculated continuously against sell-through. Indent buying commits months ahead at market, in a showroom, against a plan set before the season started. Most planning tools are built for the first. The second needs the position available in the appointment, because that is the only moment it can still change.
What should open to buy software connect to?
At minimum your point of sale or ecommerce platform for sales and stock. For indent buying it should also read purchase orders and receipts, so the committed figure reflects what actually arrived rather than what was ordered — those are rarely the same number.
Buying on indent and want to see your own position? Tell us how you trade and we will run the first read off your numbers.