Patent ID: 7752067

Claim:
A computer-implemented method for planning an assortment, comprising: receiving, by one or more computers, a hierarchical list of articles including a plurality of nodes wherein the plurality of nodes include a division node and a category node; receiving, by one or more computers, sales information for a plurality of stores, the sales information of the plurality of stores comprising a theme module defining a group of related products and article information defining a specific product of the group of related products; wherein the article information comprises a template display rack capacity and an individual display rack capacity; calculating a capacity index by dividing the individual display rack capacity by the template display rack capacity; assigning the calculated capacity index to each of the plurality of stores; defining a criteria level for each of the plurality of stores based on the demographics and fashion price point of the each of the plurality of stores wherein the criteria level comprises levels including a flagship store, a high end store, a medium end store and a low end store; categorizing, by the one or more computers, the plurality of stores according to both the capacity index value and the criteria level; assigning, by the one or more computers, one or more stores to the assortment based on the categorizing result; receiving, by one or more computers, a selection of a first node from the hierarchical list of articles to assign a first group of articles to the assortment, wherein assigning the first group of articles to the assortment assigns the first group of articles to the one or more stores that are assigned to the same assortment, wherein the assortment corresponds to a particular display location at the one or more stores, for placement of the first group of articles, and wherein the selection of the first node assigns the first group of articles concurrently to the assortment and the particular display location at the one or more stores.