Free tool · before market week
Walk into market with a number, not a feeling
Open-to-buy is the discipline big retailers use to avoid overbuying. Five numbers you already know turn into your wholesale budget for the trip.
The five numbers (all at retail price)
Open-to-buy at retail
$111,000
Your buying budget at cost
$50,455
Roughly
67 samples
Take $50,455 to market as your ceiling, split it across the vendors you plan to see before you go, and leave 10–15% unallocated for the style you didn’t know existed until you saw it. The budget is the permission to say no.
How the math works
Open-to-buy asks one question: how much inventory do you need to bring in so you can sell what you plan to sell and still end the season with the stock you want? Planned sales and planned markdowns drain inventory; what’s on hand and on order already fills it. Whatever gap remains — at retail — is yours to buy, and dividing by your markup converts it to wholesale dollars for market.
Rerun it before every buying trip. The number changes as the season sells through — that’s the point.
Know your stock number without counting
CloudBridal tracks your samples, purchase orders, and sales as they happen — so 'current stock on hand' is a report, not a weekend of counting. Free for 30 days.