From Planning to Profitability: Driving Agile Multi-Market Planning

Industry: Retail / Lifestyle

Regions: Hong Kong, Taiwan, Japan, Europe

Platform: Workday Adaptive Planning

Scope: New Store Planning, Revenue Planning, OPEX, Cash Flow

Client Snapshot

A fast-growing lifestyle brand with 400+ points of sale worldwide, expanding rapidly across new markets.

The finance and operations teams needed a unified planning platform to standardise models, improve visibility, and shorten budgeting cycles as the business scaled.

Key Challenges

• Market teams planning in scattered Excel files with inconsistent templates
• Fast expansion created pressure to standardise new-store forecasting (traffic, conversion, AOV)
• Best / Base / Worst Case scenario planning was slow and manual
• OPEX, headcount, and cash-flow planning were disconnected and error-prone
• High collaboration cost between Finance and Operations due to manual consolidation

Novus Solution

Novus implemented a fully integrated planning model on Workday Adaptive, enabling a single source of truth across markets.

1. New Store Planning

Built a unified model for forecasting performance of new stores

Standardised drivers: traffic → conversion → AOV → revenue

Enabled ROI and payback simulation across markets

Supported multi-scenario comparison for faster investment decisions

2. Revenue Planning

Designed a Regional → Market → Store forecasting structure

Automated promotion, discount, and return impact calculations

Enabled Best / Base / Worst Case modelling

Delivered multi-dimensional analytics across region, channel, and product line

3. OPEX Planning

Standardised OPEX templates across all markets

Built driver-based models for rent, salary, logistics, and other operating costs

Enabled automatic linkage between revenue and OPEX for more accurate forecasting

4. Cash Flow Forecasting

Integrated revenue, OPEX, headcount, and CAPEX planning into one model

Automated cash-in/cash-out logic and timing assumptions

Provided real-time visibility over liquidity, runway, and funding needs

Outcomes & Impact

Planning cycle reduced from 3 months to 1 month

Faster, more agile decision-making across markets.

Collaboration time between Finance & Operations reduced by 40%

No more manual consolidation or version alignment.

Manual error rate reduced by 80%+

Improved data quality and forecasting accuracy.

Consolidated multi-market planning onto one unified platform

All markets now operate with consistent templates and assumptions.